In the News

March 14, 2018 | President Trump's inauguration was not only a bonanza for special interests and high-dollar event planners, it was also a chance for wealthy donors and government contractors to show support for the new administration -- and do so in secret, if they choose.

February 2, 2018 | Conservative groups have done their best to corner the market on tax messaging based on pure volume and size of expenditures, but liberal groups too have asserted themselves since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’s enactment last year.

January 19, 2018 | President Donald Trump’s inaugural committee raised a record $107 million with the help of wealthy benefactors but also through donations from more than 200 corporations and anonymous LLCs, some of which held government contracts.

October 23, 2017 | Note: Some lobbyists file after the quarterly deadline. Visit our lobbying page for the most current data. Washington lobbying groups spent less money and reported fewer lobbyists during the third quarter of 2017 than in any quarter since at least 2008, when Center for Responsive Politics began tracking the data. Congress spent the summer considering…

October 13, 2017 | The majority of Congress are still millionaires, but Senators increased their net worth in 2015 at a far greater rate than Congress as a whole. In 2015, the median net worth of Senate Republicans rose 13 percent from $2.9 million to $3.3 million, according to personal financial disclosure data filed by congressional members and reviewed by…

August 14, 2017 | Nineteen candidates are contesting tomorrow’s primary for Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ old seat as U.S. Senator for Alabama, but few have made an impression on Alabamians. Current Sen. Luther Strange (R-Ala.) is miles ahead in terms of money raised. Strange, formerly the state’s Attorney General, was appointed to the Senate in February by Alabama Gov.…

August 8, 2017 | With the end of summer fast approaching comes another year of rising college tuition costs and looming student loans. College tuition has increased over the past several decades, but in the last 10 years the average cost of tuition for four-year public colleges and universities has grown at a lower rate than previous decades. Still, the…

August 1, 2017 | Note: Since some lobbyists file after the quarterly deadline, visit our lobbying summary for the most recent data. For the past five years — with the exception of a dip in 2016 — spending on lobbying in the first six months has been steadily increasing. Overall spending for the first six months of 2017 amounts…

July 7, 2017 | 267 former aides who worked for four congressional committees pivotal in approving new healthcare legislation are registered lobbyists for clients from the health sector or health insurance industry, according to the Center for Responsive Politics’ analysis of Senate lobbying data. (See all the data here) In addition, 18 former lawmakers also swung through the revolving…

June 30, 2017 | The list of GOP senators unhappy with the initial draft of the Republican health care bill continues to grow. Before Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) decided to postpone the vote, six GOP senators announced they would vote against it. Since then, that number has doubled. Due to McConnell’s pushback, the Senate will not vote on…

June 23, 2017 | It’s been a remarkably tough year for the retail sector. So far in 2017, retailers have set a record pace for bankruptcies and store closings. Household names are faring no better than small shops: J.C. Penney said it would shutter 138 locations in July; Macy’s expects 68 locations to close this year; and Sears Holdings will turn off the…

June 19, 2017 | On Tuesday, voters in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District will vote in the most expensive House election ever. A staggering $56.7 million (at least) has been spent on the special election, including $51.9 million on the two candidates left standing after the primary. The race between Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican Karen Handel is the most expensive House race…

May 31, 2017 | In April, another skirmish broke out in Indian Country when the Kalispel Tribe of Indians filed a federal lawsuit to stop the Spokane Tribe of Indians from building a casino. The Kalispel claim the gaming operation would draw business away from their own casino, located only two miles away from the would-be Spokane one, and thereby…

May 25, 2017 | The cost of the House special election race in Montana — where voters are going to the polls today — is officially record-breaking. It’s unclear how Wednesday’s misdemeanor assault charges against the Republican candidate, Greg Gianforte, will affect the outcome, particularly since a large number of voters cast their ballots before today. It’s very clear, though,…

May 3, 2017 | This week, the Justice Department moved to delay enforcement of rules the FDA finalized a year ago dealing with tobacco products like e-cigarettes, cigars and hookah tobacco. It’s been a busy time for big tobacco, as the victory came on the heels of a defeat for vaping (e-cigarette) companies: Sunday night’s omnibus budget bill reportedly did…

May 2, 2017 | Outside groups mobilizing in support of President Trump have already spent tens of millions on his behalf—and may never have to reveal where they got the money. Trump’s unprecedented move to register as a candidate for the 2020 presidential election on his first day in office blurs the line between groups spending in support of…

May 1, 2017 | “I think that American people should know that the members of Congress are underpaid,” said Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) in April 2014, having recently announced his retirement from the House. To be fair, he was discussing the results of an annual House vote on adjusting lawmaker pay: Each year, Congress can give itself a raise to keep…

April 24, 2017 | Note: Since some lobbyists file after the quarterly deadline, visit our lobbying summary for the most current data. Before President Trump was sworn in, his rhetoric and treatment of lobbyists seemed pretty harsh. He announced lobbyists would be kicked off the transition team and registered lobbyists couldn’t work in his administration, and some lobbyists deregistered to…

April 21, 2017 | With President Trump’s 100th day looming, he’s struggled to check off some of the big initiatives on his to-do list, such as getting rid of Obamacare and overhauling the tax code. These hefty projects invite companies and other groups with something at stake to frantically lobby the government, hoping the legislation can turn in their…

April 13, 2017 | Democrats came surprisingly close to seizing a red seat earlier this week in a House special election in Kansas. But filling HHS Secretary Tom Price’s seat in the Georgia 6th in another special next Tuesday is the battle where Team Blue may have a real shot. Frontrunner and first-time candidate Jon Ossoff raised a startling $8.2 million in the just over three months…

April 10, 2017 | When President Trump tapped the Koch brothers’ darling, Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.), as CIA director, there didn’t seem to be much reason to believe the District 4 seat would be filled by anybody other than another member of the GOP. Still, though the southern Kansas district has been represented by a Republican since 1994, and…

April 5, 2017 | Politicians rarely like to talk about the money that fuels their campaigns, and for good reason. The big players in campaign finance — billionaire megadonors, professional fundraisers, lobbyists — rarely get a warm reception from the public. Perhaps the only exception is the much-loved small donor. In 2016, campaigns and PACs raised 32.2 percent of their funds…

April 4, 2017 | This week, all the attention’s on Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump‘s nominee to become an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. But there’s another position in play: Tomorrow (April 5), the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions will hold a confirmation hearing for Scott Gottlieb, who’s in line to head the Food and…

March 30, 2017 | Americans cut their beef consumption by 19 percent between 2005 and 2014, according to a new study by the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC). For a quick visualization, you — a person of average appetite somewhere in the U.S. — ate five whole cows in 2005; in 2014, you ate four, plus a few bites of…

March 29, 2017 | You thought we wouldn’t have to deal with another federal election for two years after Nov. 8, didn’t you? Sorry. Lawmakers were scooped up shortly after to fill spots in the Trump administration or take high-level state positions, so voters in five states get another run at the polling places. Coming up fast on the…

March 24, 2017 | Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price has been mired in questions about his investments in the healthcare industry. As it turns out, some of the people helping him get grounded at the department are also prompting questions about their ties with the industry. Lance Leggitt, a lobbyist at Baker Donelson since 2006, was named…

March 23, 2017 | Today, the Center for Responsive Politics is releasing new personal financial data for members of the Trump administration. Collected from reports that executive branch nominees are required to submit to the Office of Government Ethics (OGE), the data gives the public an inside look at the financial interests of what is likely the wealthiest cabinet…

March 10, 2017 | With each of President Donald Trump’s trips to the Mar-a-Lago Club questions mount about who, exactly, is there with him. Those wealthy enough to spend $200,000 for a club membership don’t have to try to schedule a meeting with Trump in Washington when they can bump into him at the winter White House and bend…

March 8, 2017 | Sen. Chris Van Hollen‘s (D-Md.) star has been on the rise in the Democratic party: After seven terms in the House, he won a Senate seat last November, and now occupies a much-coveted spot on the Appropriations committee while also chairing the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the party’s fundraising arm for its Senate candidates. A knack for…

March 2, 2017 | You couldn’t blame defense contractors for being in a great mood this week. In his speech to Congress on Tuesday, President Donald Trump — who has repeatedly said he wants to build up American military dominance — announced that he’s “sending Congress a budget that rebuilds the military, eliminates the defense sequester and calls for…

February 28, 2017 | President Donald Trump wasted little time attending to one of his constituencies: Less than a month after taking office, and surrounded by applauding coal miners and a few friendly members of Congress, he put the knife in an Obama-era regulation barring coal mine waste from being dumped in waterways. And Trump is said to have more…

February 16, 2017 | President Donald Trump announced Alexander Acosta, the dean of Florida International University College of Law, as his new pick to head the Department of Labor on Thursday. Despite backing from top industry trade groups, Puzder withdrew his nomination Wednesday after it became clear he didn’t have enough GOP support in the Senate. Republicans began breaking away…

February 1, 2017 | Note: Since some lobbyists file after the quarterly deadline, visit our lobbying summary for the most current data. We started to spot the decline when Barack Obama took office: Fewer people registered to lobby, and less money was being spent to influence Washington. And that trend continued last year: By the end of 2016, companies spent $3.1 billion…

February 1, 2017 | Tom Brady, the quarterback of the NFL‘s New England Patriots, is no stranger to the limelight. Sunday’s Super Bowl LI (51) between his team and the Atlanta Falcons will mark his seventh appearance in football’s championship face-off; it could be his fifth victory. Brady has been linked to more controversial activities, as well, like the Deflategate controversy…

January 27, 2017 | Note: Some lobbyists file after the quarterly deadline. Visit our lobbying page for the most current data. Quite a few corporations floated multi-billion dollar mergers in 2016, including ag leaders Monsanto and Bayer, telecom titans AT&T and Time Warner and fantasy sports giants FanDuel and Draft Kings. And with such marriages — which undergo scrutiny by…

January 27, 2017 | Two-time Super Bowl champion. Likely future Hall-of-Famer. Speaker at the three-day 2017 Republican retreat in Philadelphia. Peyton Manning, one of American football’s all-time greats, made his political debut Thursday night at the retreat, which was intended to solidify the Republican party’s game plan and unite the moving pieces of the GOP-controlled White House, Senate and…

January 19, 2017 | This January marked the seventh anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark Citizens United v. Federal Election Committee ruling — a decision that has left a deeper footprint with every election cycle. After the 5-4 decision, which freed corporations and unions to make unlimited independent political expenditures, the super PAC was born. And that creature has gone forth…

January 12, 2017 | The Hollywood liberal has been a stock figure in American politics for decades. Conservative politicians have long denounced or mocked the alleged political influence of musicians, TV stars, and Golden Globe recipients. While the entertainment industry does indeed lean well to the left, though, most of that money comes from producers and media magnates, not…

January 9, 2017 | Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), Donald Trump’s pick to head the Department of Health and Human Services, has come under fire for buying and selling shares companies in the health care industry whose fortunes he could affect through his perch in Congress, and for intervening with regulators on behalf of some of his donors in the…

December 22, 2016 | Boy, has 2016 been a whirlwind adventure. If you’re like us, you have tabs and tabs of unread stories that caught your eye during the workday, but haven’t had time to dive into yet. Now that the holiday break is upon us, we’ll finally have the time to sink into that comfy chair by the…

December 9, 2016 | The 2016 election is over. Ballots have been cast, and (most) federal candidates know the outcome of their hard-fought races. Yet company PACs and even individuals are still writing checks to candidates’ campaign committees, even though the campaigns they’re funding are done. “Giving after the election clearly shows the donation is not given to support…

December 6, 2016 | No (public) experience required. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson has been tapped to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, despite never holding public office in his career. (Even Carson admitted he would be a “fish out of water” as a federal bureaucrat a few weeks back.) However, since the former director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins did run…

November 18, 2016 | Nov. 29 update: President-elect Donald Trump named Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) as his pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services. Unsuccessful GOP presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson declared Tuesday that he has no interest in a position in the Trump cabinet and instead wants to serve the administration as an outside advisor because he…

November 16, 2016 | Update Dec. 14: President-elect Trump tapped ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson. For background on his political contributions, click here. We continue our series on the money-in-politics histories of candidates for Donald Trump’s future Cabinet by looking at those who have been mentioned as possibilities to run the State Department. (See our earlier analyses on prospects for…

October 28, 2016 | Washington thrives on speculation and now, after months of guessing at things like primary contenders and vice presidential picks, it’s time to draft potential cabinets. With no shortage of well-educated guesses on who might lead the various executive departments, certain names crop up more often than others, often officials and bureaucrats with substantial political and policy…

October 19, 2016 | When the Republican-controlled Congress approved a landmark program in 2003 to help seniors buy prescription drugs, it slapped on an unusual restriction: The federal government was barred from negotiating cheaper prices for those medicines. Instead, the job of holding down costs was outsourced to the insurance companies delivering the subsidized new coverage, known as Medicare…

October 13, 2016 | With scorching news about Donald Trump dominating the media, along with his equally blistering pushback, GOP members of Congress have had to make some tough decisions about where to position themselves vis-a-vis the top of the ticket. And situation’s trickle-down volatility has done them no favors, helping to ensure that the latest Roll Call list…

October 7, 2016 | The possibility that Donald Trump avoided paying income tax for nearly two decades has stirred debate about how, exactly, he managed to report almost $1 billion in net operating losses on his 1995 tax return. It has also triggered buzz about the copious benefits available to the real estate industry in our tax code. The exact…

September 29, 2016 | Donald Trump and Mitt Romney may not have much in common, and the 2012 GOP presidential nominee has made no bones about his visceral dislike of the pugilistic businessman who is carrying his party’s banner this time around. When it comes to campaign fundraising, though, there’s a lot of overlap in their pools of donors.…

September 16, 2016 | Many Americans, understandably, want to elect a healthy president. With Hillary Clinton’s recent pneumonia diagnosis, the media has increased its focus on the relative health of both Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump as the presidential race enters its final two months. When considering contributions from employees and PACs in the health sector, though, it’s…

September 15, 2016 | If you shuddered at the possibility of St. Louis-based crop titan Monsanto Co. taking over Swiss pesticides giant Syngenta AG last summer, you’re probably having a bad week: Monsanto has agreed to be acquired by German chemical conglomerate Bayer AG for $56.5 billion. Monsanto and Bayer are already two of the biggest agrichemical corporations in…

September 1, 2016 | It’s official: Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) is resigning next Tuesday, Sept. 6, after being chastised by the House Ethics Committee. The panel didn’t recommend punishment for Whitfield when it concluded its probe into whether he granted special access to his wife, a lobbyist with the Humane Society Legislative Fund. But its July report said the 11-term…

September 1, 2016 | Alabama. Louisiana. Mississippi. Red states through and through, right? The popular vote in all three has favored the GOP since at least 2000. And donors from these states have given more to the Republican nominee in at least the last three presidential cycles. The 2016 election has turned that fundraising orthodoxy on its head. In…

August 9, 2016 | The lobbying industry may start arguing for its own bailout bill, given the relentless decline in reported spending for its services. The first quarter of 2016 was sluggish, the second similarly so. And with it came a pronounced dive in the number of active registered lobbyists. With 325 fewer lobbyists registered in the second quarter of…

August 5, 2016 | If you thought there was a lot of corporate money in politics, you haven’t seen the amount of cash that goes into sponsoring the U.S. Olympic games. Eleven multinational corporations each paid the International Olympic Committee an estimated $100 million for a four-year partnership that gives them coveted advertising rights during the global sporting competition. (International Olympics Committee…

August 4, 2016 | Two Florida Democrats who have been in the spotlight lately for very different reasons are the winners of the Bernie Sanders $200-and-under award, receiving the largest share of their congressional campaign funds from people giving modest amounts of any current candidates so far this cycle. Individuals who gave $200 or less flocked to Sanders’ campaign…

July 28, 2016 | The klieg lights were on full strength Wednesday at a star-studded lunch highlighting obesity treatment and, later, a Fergie concert, both put on by the Creative Coalition — with help from pharma giants like Novo Nordisk — on the third day of the Democratic National Convention. “I think you couple the artistry with celebrity to create…

July 19, 2016 | Republicans are denouncing Ohio Gov. John Kasich for ditching his own party’s convention held in the state he governs. Of course, he’s not the only nationally known GOP leader to skip the proceedings. It gets worse, though: None of Monday’s or today’s prime-time speakers at the Cleveland confab have donated more than $200 to Donald Trump’s campaign or the super…

July 16, 2016 | Numerous Republican elites are ditching their party’s national convention in Cleveland this year. (And with some pretty lame excuses, too.) Boy, are they missing out. Sure, on what likely will be a fascinating main event, but mostly they’re skipping out on some of the biggest soirées of the season. Special interests, lobbyists, politicians and the media…

July 13, 2016 | The anticipation is killing us: What name will appear along with Donald Trump‘s on the Republican ticket? The presumptive nominee could announce his VP pick any day now, just in time for the Republican National Convention in Cleveland next week. The Donald is reported to be appearing at a public event with his chosen running mate on Friday, according…

June 20, 2016 | Outside groups — including politically active nonprofits like the Koch brothers’ Americans for Prosperity — have spent more money trying to influence the 2016 Ohio Senate race between Republican Sen. Rob Portman and his challenger, Democrat Ted Strickland, than any other congressional contest: $15.5 million so far. The RealClearPolitics polling average currently has the candidates in…

June 9, 2016 | Yes, we live in a gilded age of campaign finance, with billionaire donors forking over tens of millions of dollars to super PACs. But hard money — which is contributed directly to candidates’ campaigns, political parties or regular PACs and, unlike outside money, is subject to limits — still matters to those seeking office. Candidates…

May 19, 2016 | For years, a handful of nonprofits — including the kind often used as “dark money” machines — have acted as veritable cash cows for one or two political or advertising vendors, new data shows. The data sheds light on who, ultimately, takes home the loads of cash deposited into dark money groups that are often…

May 6, 2016 | Despite lobbying intensely for their interests in Congress, tobacco giants didn’t put up much of the fight against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s new rules on e-cigarettes, pipe tobacco and cigars, records show. That helped hand a victory to opponents concerned about the health effects of vaping. Announced Thursday, the rules impose a strong…

May 5, 2016 | Some of their clients appeared to have little to do with a federal agency that oversees airplane registration and certification, air traffic controllers and airport construction. But that didn’t stop lobbyists for Fluor Corp, an energy engineering company, and a handful of other companies that looked a little out of place in the expected cast of characters from lobbying on “Federal…

May 4, 2016 | While patients in Massachusetts await affordable doses of the blockbuster hepatitis C drug Sovaldi, Rep. Joseph Kennedy III has financially benefited from the success of the drug’s manufacturer, Gilead Sciences, according to public financial disclosures and campaign finance records. And he’s not the only lawmaker profiting from investments in a company that has drawn unwelcome…

May 3, 2016 | Ever hear the one about the social welfare organization that was punished by the IRS for its political activity? The lawyer who got the letter was so shocked by the news, he forgot to thank the flying pig that delivered it. If you’re thinking to yourself, but wait, I’ve heard that nonprofit organizations are subject to…

April 27, 2016 | Lobbying clients overall apparently weren’t looking to burst out of the gate in 2016, but outlays by some of the biggest companies in the pharmaceutical industry spiked during the year’s first quarter. Lobbying spending by companies and interest groups in the first three months of 2016 — the last year of an eight-year presidential administration…

March 18, 2016 | Donald Trump, the prohibitive favorite for the Republican presidential nomination, just added a fistful of primaries to his string of victories and knocked the GOP establishment’s favorite son, Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), out of the race. To beat Trump now, it seems, someone thinks it’s time to get evil. Dr. Evil, to be exact. Washington consultant Rick…

February 25, 2016 | When Democrats consider their odds for regaining the Senate this November, one of the first states that comes to mind is Pennsylvania, where first-term Sen. Pat Toomey, a Republican, is locked in a rematch with former Democratic Sen. Joe Sestak, who lost to Toomey in 2010. But for a race with such high stakes, it seems, at…

February 21, 2016 | The $103 million raised by Right to Rise USA between January and July 2015 provided the shock. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush could just never bring the awe. The Bush super PAC had the resources. It had family loyalist donors who laid out as much as $10 million in contributions and did so as late as October, even after…

February 19, 2016 | Are the parties being starved to death? Loyalists on both sides of the aisle have said so, citing a series of legislative moves and court decisions in recent years that took away the parties’ ability to raise unlimited “soft money” and allowed other groups to do so instead. The shrinking presence of the parties, which…

February 9, 2016 | Financially speaking, Will Jawando, a former campaign staffer for President Obama, isn’t doing well in the crowded contest for Maryland’s 8th Congressional District seat. With just $357,000 raised as of Dec. 31, he trails the race’s top fundraiser, Kathleen Matthews, by more than a million dollars. About 8 percent of that money — $28,300 —…

February 5, 2016 | With the veteran Denver Broncos matching up against the youthful North Carolina Panthers at Super Bowl 50 this weekend, one story line is about the quarterback matchup: newly minted MVP Cam Newton versus Peyton Manning, a five-time winner of that honor who is rumored to be retiring after Sunday. Of course, it’s also all about…

February 2, 2016 | The securities and investment industry flexed serious financial muscle in the presidential money race last year. At $102 million contributed to all candidates, current and former, and the super PACs supporting them, it led all industries tracked by the Center for Responsive Politics, new data show. Super PACs allowed the industry to gain an outsize share…

January 25, 2016 | The 10 biggest lobbying spenders in Washington laid out less than $300 million in 2015, lobbying records and Center for Responsive Politics data show. Expenditures by the top 10 fell to just under $282 million, down from about $323.7 million the year before. Last year, the top tier included some perennials — the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and National…

January 11, 2016 | After a season that brought just one defeat between them, the top two teams in college football will face off tonight in Phoenix for the national championship. Partisans of the University of Alabama and Clemson University (and we have one of each here at CRP) have placed their bets, put on their lucky underwear, prayed…

January 6, 2016 | Two lawmakers, Democratic Reps. Jim McDermott (Wash.) and Steve Israel (N.Y.), announced their retirements this week, joining a parade of members of their party who will exit the House in 2017. In an interview with the New York Times, Israel indicated that the current campaign finance system, with its never-ending fundraising demands, had an impact…

December 21, 2015 | This post has been updated to include a statement from the Clinton campaign. Not that you saw it or anything, but OpenSecrets.org got a pretty big shout-out over the weekend. When presidential candidate Hillary Clinton wants to get her facts about campaign finance straight, at least she knows where to come. “I think it’s important to point…

November 24, 2015 | In politics, 2015 may be remembered as the year of Trump and Carson, Clinton and Sanders. In the business world, especially in the health care industry, it may be remembered as the year of the merger. But many politicians aren’t at all happy about the latest such effort: New York-based Pfizer‘s plan, announced Monday, to…

November 12, 2015 | Fast food and other low-wage workers took to the streets of cities across the country this week to demand a minimum wage of $15, earning the support of liberal mayors, governors and even presidential candidates. In New York, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo stood with the “Fight for $15” crusade, announcing he would take executive action…

October 28, 2015 | Two of the country’s biggest drug store chains are set to combine, bringing thousands of stores under one red-and-white logo. Walgreens Boots Alliance announced a deal on Tuesday to buy Rite Aid Corp. for $17.2 billion, including $7.8 billion in debt. The companies, two of the three largest pharmacy chains in the nation, are looking…

October 27, 2015 | Someone must have called a three-month time out in Washington’s influence game during the late summer and early fall. Spending on lobbying was already sluggish this year, but outlays dropped from nearly $822 million between April 1 and June 30 to $738.6 million in the most recent quarter. While the third quarter is typically the slowest of…

October 22, 2015 | Lawyers are showing a lot of love for Hillary Clinton, while Wall Street is investing most heavily in Jeb Bush. Outside of retirees, a traditional and unsurprising donor base for most candidates, the 2016 presidential candidates looked to a variety of industries in their quest for campaign money from individuals in 2015’s third quarter, a Center…

October 6, 2015 | House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) may not be the least giving House speaker candidate, but favorite Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) still dwarfs him in fundraising by $22 million. On Thursday, Republicans will choose among Chaffetz, McCarthy and Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.) to replace Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) as leader of the…

October 2, 2015 | Since 1999, pharmaceuticals/health products has poured more money annually into lobbying than any other industry, including $229 million last year alone. PhRMA led the group, plowing $16.6 million into helping advance drugmakers' priorities in Washington.

September 25, 2015 | Whatever else is said about him, you can’t say he didn’t share. Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) raised $97 million for his House campaigns and leadership PAC from the time he received his first donations in 1989, Center for Responsive Politics data shows — far more than any other sitting House member. Only Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lamar…

September 23, 2015 | Congressional leadership is rushing to avoid a government shutdown, with federal funding for Planned Parenthood at the center of the debate. Over the summer, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called Planned Parenthood a “scandal-plagued political lobbying giant,” while pushing to defund the organization. A series of undercover videos of Planned Parenthood officials discussing how…

September 14, 2015 | The Center for Responsive Politics is pleased to welcome three new members to its Board of Directors. Jennifer N. Victor is associate professor of political science at George Mason University’s School of Policy, Government and International Affairs, where she has been on the faculty since 2012; she is also director of the school’s undergraduate programs.…

September 3, 2015 | A year after New York-based real estate company Delos Living committed $250,000 to a signature initiative of Hillary Clinton’s State Department, the Clinton Global Initiative partnered with Delos on a $5 million project to build a “world-class” soccer stadium in earthquake-ravaged Haiti, documents show. Working the players at both ends were two old Clinton hands — Virginia Gov.…

August 17, 2015 | The 2012 election cycle saw the birth of little-known hybrid PACs, also known as Carey committees, which can maintain two separate accounts; one for contributions to federal candidates and parties, and the other for independent expenditures, to which unlimited contributions can be made. The committees, which emerged as a result of the case Carey v. FEC, collectively raised…

August 11, 2015 | As many Americans sat in front of their television sets Thursday evening to watch the first party-sanctioned debate of the 2016 presidential election season, they were probably not surprised that the GOP contenders attempted to differentiate themselves from the rest of the pack. As the Center’s recently updated 2016 presidential profiles show, however, the candidates’ top…

August 7, 2015 | Donald Trump was pretty much the only Republican presidential candidate at last night’s prime time Fox News debate to find fault with the current campaign finance system. It’s hard to know what he thinks the solution is, but something, according to Trump, is “broken.” I will tell you that our system is broken…I give to…

August 1, 2015 | The 2016 presidential race may be a whole new ball game in terms of fundraising, but most of the players’ names are awfully familiar — even if their faces are a bit more lined. Very few of the top donors to the super PACs backing one of the many GOP White House hopefuls or handful…

July 30, 2015 | Substantial spikes in outlays for lobbying by some of the biggest-spending clients could not keep overall second-quarter numbers from sliding below those of the first three months of the year — and in fact below those of any second quarter since at least 2010, with the exception of 2013. About $802 million was spent on…

July 21, 2015 | Second quarter lobbying reports are in, showing some big jumps among the top spenders of the period from April 1 through June 30, including the American Medical Association and General Electric. No surprise that the largest spender was the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which laid out $23.1 million in the last three months, up from…

June 24, 2015 | The U.S. Supreme Court could rule as early as Thursday in the case of King v. Burwell, which deals with whether or not the Affordable Care Act allows tax credit subsidies to be given to individuals who buy health insurance in the dozens of states using the federal exchange. There’s little question that some Republicans…

June 18, 2015 | Real estate mogul Donald Trump has toyed around with running for president many times before, only to decide later on that he wouldn’t do so. Earlier this week, however, “The Donald” — a man who constantly flaunts his wealth and in recent years made a habit out of questioning the validity of President Barack Obama’s…

June 16, 2015 | Pharmaceutical interests are pushing hard in favor of a bill that could speed up Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of new drugs. But the bipartisan 21st Century Cures Act, which was approved last month by the the House Energy and Commerce Committee (the members of which have all sponsored the bill) and could reach the House floor by…

June 10, 2015 | In his new role as McDonald’s global chief communications officer, former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs will “lead McDonald’s in communicating clear, coordinated messages to internal and external constituencies, enhancing the brand and supporting corporate strategies,” according to an announcement Tuesday by the fast food giant. That’ll put Gibbs front-and-center conveying the company’s perspective…

June 2, 2015 | Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will hold her first big presidential campaign rally June 13 at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park, located on the aptly named Roosevelt Island in New York City. The park’s board members might be hard-pressed to have it any other way: Many have given money to Clinton and…

May 28, 2015 | Next month the House will consider a bill to overhaul how the federal government regulates toxic chemicals. That in itself is a milestone: Despite bipartisan support for the idea, the process has been long and tortured, complicated by millions in lobbying and campaign donations. And the fight may be far from over. For more on…

May 20, 2015 | Former members of the 113th Congress have embarked on various new adventures since their defeats, retirements or departures for other reasons: Some are teaching, others are pondering away at think tanks, a couple are embedded in corporate culture, a few are even enjoying their freedom and sleeping a little later every morning. Not surprisingly, though,…

May 19, 2015 | In the world of money in politics, many interest groups behave predictably. Election after election, contributions from oil and gas companies, for instance, flow overwhelmingly to Republicans, while those who work in education favor Democrats. What about when contributions break down differently within industries? The CFO and the janitor, for instance, may have opposing political views,…

May 13, 2015 | A sheen of oil and chemicals wound down the Hudson River toward New York City this week after Saturday’s fire and explosion in a nuclear power plant transformer 40 miles upstream from the nation’s largest metropolitan center. Awkward timing: The explosion came as the plant’s owner, Entergy Corp., is lobbying federal lawmakers and agencies for…

May 1, 2015 | In the months since President Obama announced his support for new retirement investment rules that would stop advisers from pushing high-fee plans on small-fry American investors, several major financial organizations have lobbied hard on a bill that would undermine the commander in chief’s agenda, according to recently released lobbying records for the first quarter of the year. The…

April 3, 2015 | For more on private prisons in the United States, please visit CRP’s issue profile on the subject. Willacy County, a poor, agricultural community near Texas’ border with Mexico, has a $63 million problem that may only get worse if it can’t find a way to fill 2,800 beds with prisoners. The county has lost nearly…

March 30, 2015 | It has been nearly 15 years since a proposal to build wind turbines in federal waters was first floated by Cape Wind, but a Virginia power company with a much more substantial Washington money presence is poised to take the baton over the finish line. Dominion Resources, a company whose profits have charged up the…

March 26, 2015 | Representatives of farmers unions, cattle interests and lumber companies, plus municipal representatives from across the country, filed into the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee’s hearing room Tuesday as the panel met to hear stakeholder perspectives on proposed Clean Water Act regulations that have been a bone of contention for the last year. Major industries affected…

March 20, 2015 | A bill that would change chemical regulations may or may not have been written by a leading trade organization affected by the rules — but no matter the original source of the bill’s text, it’s a fact that the sponsors of the legislation have received plenty of campaign contributions from the group and its member…

March 18, 2015 | According to the American Gaming Association, over 40 million Americans are filling out brackets in preparation for the March Madness tournament, which kicks off Thursday. Many will play it safe, listen to the analysts, and bet on Kentucky for the championship. But that’s boring, and the NCAA tournament has a penchant for producing upsets. So…

March 9, 2015 | The Justice Department reportedly is on the brink of filing criminal corruption charges against Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) for allegedly pushing the interests of a Florida ophthalmologist in exchange for gifts and contributions. Menendez says he’s done nothing wrong, and that Salomon Melgen’s generosity over the years was spurred because the two are friends. Friends…

February 25, 2015 | D.C. residents voted to legalize marijuana, but Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) wants to prescribe the District a different fate. Local officials, having defied Harris’ rider in the year-end cromnibus prohibiting implementation of the city’s Initiative 71, say legalization will begin tomorrow, Feb. 26 — though congressional Republicans are equally bent on blocking it. The ballot…

February 10, 2015 | Years of cultivating relationships with Republican lawmakers and supporting their campaign committees financially may begin to pay off tomorrow, as the GOP now controls the Senate — and thus, the Environment and Public Works Committee. That means some of the industry’s closest friends will lead the questioning of EPA officials at an oversight hearing tomorrow to discuss…

February 5, 2015 | December’s cromnibus spending package was a bonanza for lobbyists, with the defense, banking, and health care industries especially flexing their influence muscle to make sure their priorities were on the agenda. The Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act (H.R. 83), or Cromnibus, which combined a short-term continuing resolution on Department of Homeland Security funding with broader…

January 29, 2015 | Nearly five years after President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law, congressional Republicans have their best chance yet to follow through on a promise to undo part of it by repealing the medical device tax. A number of Democrats are on board for the repeal too. In fact, the tax is anything but a…

January 26, 2015 | Despite some last-minute jostling in the fourth quarter, most lobbying firms maintained their spots in the revenue standings in 2014. That said, some firms had a great year, more than doubling their income, and others felt the sting of growing pains from mergers or just a shortage of free-spending clients. Overall, la crème de la crème stayed…

January 20, 2015 | The economy is growing steadily, unemployment is down, the stock market is soaring, gas prices are diving. Good luck getting a rise out of someone by mentioning the deficit at a Washington dinner party, something that would have been unimaginable in the not-so-distant past. There’s plenty of good news for President Obama to dwell on…

January 6, 2015 | Seven years after President George W. Bush signed the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act (HLOGA) into law and then-Sen. Barack Obama, (D-Ill.) declared it to be “the most sweeping ethics reform since Watergate,” a joint analysis by the Sunlight Foundation and the Center for Responsive Politics suggests the effort may have misfired. A key…

January 2, 2015 | Less than two months after spending $2 million to be re-elected to the House of Representatives, Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) announced he would resign his Staten Island seat. In April 2014, Grimm was indicted on 20 counts alleging various frauds; he pleaded guilty to a single felony charge on Dec. 23. Grimm first came under scrutiny when…

December 22, 2014 | This report is the third (part 1/part 2) in a series examining the years-long decline in both spending on lobbyists and the number of active lobbyists. Overall spending on lobbying has been on a downward trajectory since 2010 and the number of active lobbyists has seen an even longer-term and more drastic drop. Previous entries…

December 9, 2014 | It just isn’t their month. The same day a Washington Post piece accused his husband, Chris Hughes, of killing a century old institution of journalism, Sean Eldridge faced a report claiming he aspired to be the first openly gay president of the United States. Both come a month after Eldridge’s humiliating 30-point drubbing in New York’s 19th District congressional…

December 3, 2014 | This article was cross-posted at TIME.com. The defeat of the Keystone XL pipeline bill in the Senate last month may have been viewed as a blow to Sen. Mary Landrieu‘s re-election bid, but her battle to get the bill passed was warmly received by members of the oil and gas industry, including Keystone’s parent company.…

November 24, 2014 | Vaping is hot. Use of electronic cigarettes is on a steady rise — the overall market value was estimated to be between $1 and $1.7 billion last year. Even the term has achieved the ultimate mark of respectability: “Vaping” was recently named Word of the Year by Oxford Dictionaries. Fittingly, we’ve made this the latest…

November 13, 2014 | The Grand Old Party might prefer to see President Obama eat crow when it comes to health care or immigration reform, but they’ll have to settle for watching him pardon Republican-raised turkeys this Thanksgiving. In what just might be an instance of the use of executive power with which House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) will not take issue, Obama will…

November 3, 2014 | It’s official. Today, spending by “dark money” organizations on congressional elections surpassed that of all previous cycles. At $169.2 million so far, money spent by these groups that don’t disclose their donors handily outpaces 2010’s previous record for a midterm election, where dark money spending topped out at $135 million. It even, albeit barely, tops the $168.6 million spent…

October 31, 2014 | This story is cross-posted at TIME.com With just a few days remaining in the first quarter of 2014, Mary Landrieu did something generous: The embattled Democratic senator from Louisiana, herself in the midst of an exceedingly tough re-election race, used her leadership PAC to give $5,000 to the campaign of Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), who…

October 22, 2014 | If you’re seeking reassurance on the Ebola threat, don’t look at the latest lobbying filings. In the third quarter spanning July through September, 17 organizations specifically referred to the hemorrhagic fever — which has already caused more than 4,500 deaths in West Africa and one in the United States — in their lobbying filings. This…

October 14, 2014 | This piece is a collaboration between OpenSecrets.org and the Sunlight Foundation Graphic: Amy Cesal/Sunlight Foundation The Federal Election Commission has recently enlisted the help of an outside agency, the General Services Administration, and its elite squad of civic techies called 18F to overhaul its website and push the boundaries of open disclosure to new heights. And…

September 25, 2014 | In the Second District of Nebraska, a state that would be crossed by the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, an influx of cash from the national parties is adding fuel to the fire of a competitive House race. Eight-term incumbent Rep. Lee Terry (R) is facing one of the biggest challenges of his career in State Sen. Brad Ashford.…

September 19, 2014 | On Thursday, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) presented a new version of legislation to overhaul chemical safety regulations, dissenting from a bipartisan bill that was still being negotiated more than a year after it was introduced. But Boxer, who chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee, isn’t the only one putting up a fight: Several big…

September 19, 2014 | President Obama declared on Tuesday that the United States would send troops, medical equipment and aid workers to Western African countries ravaged by Ebola, a virus that has killed more than 2,400 people. “We know that if we take the proper steps, we can save lives,” he said. “But we have to act fast.” And yet,…

September 2, 2014 | Americans who have taken advantage of the Supreme Court’s decision earlier this year to toss aside overall political contribution limits are one in a million. Actually, they’re slightly fewer than one in a million. Of the 318 million people in the U.S., a whopping 310 donors have given more than the total $123,200 they were allowed to…

August 28, 2014 | Congressman Tom Cotton (R-Ark) is a dangerous man and a hypocrite. Cotton — who is running to unseat Senator Mark Pryor — wants to “end Medicare as we know it” while also treating himself and his friends in Congress to “taxpayer-funded health care for life.” At least, that’s what a liberal group called Patriot Majority USA wants you to believe,…

August 22, 2014 | (Photo: Dog’s Empire) Members of Congress will have a lot on their plate when they return from summer recess early next month ― but for some, one of their biggest concerns may be holding on to their jobs come November. Statistically speaking, many of those members will get to keep their seats: 90 percent of…

August 18, 2014 | This report is the second (part 1/part 3) in a series examining the years-long decline in both spending on lobbyists and the number of active lobbyists. As the total amount of money spent on lobbying continues to fall, many analysts — including the staff at the Center for Responsive Politics — cite congressional gridlock as…

August 5, 2014 | The following is adapted from OpenSecrets.org’s new marijuana issue profile. Read more about the marijuana industry’s campaign donations and lobbying efforts as well as relevant marijuana focused legislation. In late November 2012, voters in Washington and Colorado passed ballot initiatives to fully legalize marijuana for recreational use. Coloradans were able to start purchasing recreational marijuana…

July 29, 2014 | Studies have confirmed several statistics about the group known as millennials, the generation born between 1980 and 2000. They’re on track to be the most educated generation to date, they’re getting married significantly later in life, and they’re in debt. They’re also the most civically engaged generation the United States has ever seen. Millennials are…

July 8, 2014 | Despite objections from a handful of Democrats, the Senate voted on Monday to move forward with a pro-hunting bill that has delighted most gun rights groups, including the National Rifle Association. Introduced by embattled incumbent Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), the Bipartisan Sportsmen’s Act (S. 2363) would unlock funding to build shooting ranges on public land while easing hunting restrictions. But…

July 7, 2014 | Money-in-politics data geeks have been abuzz lately about a new plug-in called Greenhouse. Created by 16-year-old Nick Rubin, Greenhouse uses data from OpenSecrets.org to enable users to check a politician’s finances and top contributors by hovering over his or her name on any web page. This new tool isn’t the only one using Center for…

June 18, 2014 | The ongoing FIFA World Cup is an occasion for fans to congregate in bars and yell at the television — and a time when multinational corporations get to market their brands far and wide through players’ jerseys and billboards on the field. But the official sponsors of the championship are also key players in another arena: K Street. Six companies…

June 17, 2014 | Since the beginning of the 2014 campaign cycle last year, 14 donors — running the gamut from a hedge fund manager to a gay rights activist to a little-known Salt Lake City venture capitalist — have given $100,000 or more to President Barack Obama’s avowedly un-campaign committee, Organizing for Action. Another 26 have ponied up…

June 13, 2014 | Though it has now come to a screeching finish, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.)’s leadership position in the House has brought him enduring connections, political clout and insider knowledge — in other words, potent K Street cred. “He brings incredible contacts with the whole Republican caucus in both houses” of Congress, said Ivan H. Adler, a…

June 12, 2014 | The surprising defeat of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) shocked the GOP and delighted many Democrats, but it also sent the House Republican caucus into a frenzy over who would fill Cantor’s shoes as the party’s No. 2 man. Palace intrigue — already gathering steam due to speculation that House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) would step…

June 5, 2014 | New York Sen. Charles E. Schumer has done his darned best to earn the title of “buzzkill“: He led the crackdown on Four Loko caffeine-laced malt beverages, declared war on the powdered liquor product Palcohol, and — this week — drove the summer boozy slushy fad called Phrosties to extinction. But meanwhile, he’s also received…

May 22, 2014 | Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) doesn’t have much to worry about this year — she easily dispatched a primary challenger earlier this month, and her Democratic opponent has raised just $3,000. So why does OpenSecrets.org consider the race for North Carolina’s Fifth Congressional District a “Hot Race”? As it turns out, Foxx’s campaign fundraising raised a red flag when we…

May 16, 2014 | Matt Bevin was considered, at one time, a possibly serious threat to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). No more: When Republican voters go to the polls on Tuesday to select their nominee, McConnell will likely win by a wide margin. Still, the early threat froom Bevin has helped push fundraising in the race sky-high. The two GOP…

May 13, 2014 | Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce provided more than half the two-year budget of a conservative nonprofit geared toward youth that has been running controversial anti-Obamacare ads, according to tax documents obtained by OpenSecrets.org. In the three years for which tax information is available, Generation Opportunity has raised almost 86 percent of its funds from just…

May 1, 2014 | Lobbying firms hoping for an uptick in spending by their clients had a disappointing first three months this year, an analysis by OpenSecrets.org shows: It was the worst first quarter in the last four years, continuing the downward slide of K Street spending. Recently filed lobbying disclosure reports show that a total of $811.8 million…

April 30, 2014 | This article is cross-posted to The Daily Beast. When it comes to voters’ knowledge about the deep-pocketed donors who are trying to influence their vote, the 2014 election cycle is on track to be the darkest election in recent history. And that’s saying a lot, as each of the last three elections has shattered dark money…

March 26, 2014 | Hobby Lobby's appearance in the national political spotlight, via the Supreme Court contraception mandate debate, naturally made us wonder: How does the craft company spend money in Washington?

March 19, 2014 | OpenSecrets Blog posts about a Republican lawyer and energy lobbyist helped inform investigators looking into a state candidate who promised help for payday lenders in return for their financial support routed through 501(c)(4) dark money groups.

March 5, 2014 | Sean Noble's mammoth group -- which since 2009 has funneled $170 million-plus to conservative organizations involved in politicking -- seemed to be on the outs last year with its main backers. Now, say hello to American Encore.

January 30, 2014 | Waxman, a champion of the health care overhaul and bane of the tobacco industry, calls it quits. Like his fellow retiring lawmakers, he's leaving some money on the table that may benefit other candidates.

January 28, 2014 | State of the Union -- 9 p.m. tonight. But Obama's list of 2014 priorities may sound a lot like last year's roster, due in part to a deadlocked Congress that produced a historic year of inaction.

January 15, 2014 | In anticipation of the Supreme Court's ruling in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, the Center for Responsive Politics and the Sunlight Foundation have teamed up to look at the deep-pocketed donors who could give even more if the justices strike down another limit on the amount of money in U.S. politics.

January 15, 2014 | The betting is that "Blackfish," which raises all kinds of questions about marine theme parks like SeaWorld, will turn up Thursday on the list of Oscar nominees for Best Documentary Feature. Here's how SeaWorld has tried to make its case in Washington since the killing of one of its trainers in 2010.

December 17, 2013 | Not everyone in Obama's gathering of Silicon Valley execs today to discuss the health care rollout was a top-tier CEO. But some of the lesser-known attendees did have something else in common.

December 12, 2013 | What motivates PACs? The ability to gain influence with a candidate almost certain to win? Or the possibility of swaying a close race to the contestant most likely to be friendly to their cause?

November 21, 2013 | Rep. Trey Radel (R) is the first sitting member of Congress to be arrested and convicted on drug charges since 1982. So why has the GOP leadership been so quiet on the Florida freshman's situation? One reason could be that Radel has been a favorite of the Republican leadership since his election last year.

November 14, 2013 | Crossroads GPS raised $180 million last year, including one donation of $22.5 million. But it was also pulling in some much smaller grants from construction industry and nursing home trade groups, OpenSecrets.org has learned.

November 7, 2013 | The amount of outside spending that's occurred in the 2014 election cycle is up dramatically from its level at the same point in the last cycle. Spending by dark money groups alone has increased even more. The real surprise is that liberal groups have dominated the scene so far.

November 4, 2013 | It has been over two years since 10 corporate law professors petitioned the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) asking for new oversight measures that would increase the transparency of corporate spending in elections. Alex Baumgart reports on the rule's progress, and why corporate political disclosure is so important to CRP's mission.

October 28, 2013 | The executive vice president of the UnitedHealth Group, which will be responsible for fixing the government's ailing healthcare website, has been a key donor to the president over the years.

October 25, 2013 | Efforts by the pharmaceutical and agribusiness lobbies have helped stall efforts to cut the use of antibiotics in meat production, a practice that could have a negative long-term impact on humans, studies show.

October 24, 2013 | Heritage Action, one of the biggest advocates of defunding Obamacare even if it meant a government shutdown, raised close to half of its 2012 revenue from donors giving less than $5,000.

October 24, 2013 | While the company said it had no position on linking government funding with Obamacare defunding, it went to bat for tying an increase in the debt ceiling to a 10-year debt reduction plan.

October 22, 2013 | A joint analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics and the Washington Post shows that business interests played a key role in helping elect lawmakers who rejected their plea to raise the debt ceiling and end the shutdown.

October 1, 2013 | Making payments to government contractors is one of the many functions of the federal government which could be halted in a shutdown. The likelihood of a shutdown lasting long enough to hurt the bottom line of a company as large as Lockheed is remote, but we thought we'd take the opportunity to check out which members of Congress may have some displeased donors if the shutdown lasts a little too long.

September 26, 2013 | Sen. Ted Cruz's marathon speechifying seemed meant to please a certain subset of the Texan's supporters -- and it did. But what about his corporate contributors? They're big backers of the Republican establishment, which didn't much like his "filibuster."

September 19, 2013 | Republican Rep. Phil Gingrey's comments about congressional staffers' ability to leave Capitol Hill and go "make $500,000 a year" as lobbyists drew the wrong kind of attention to the lawmaker, who is hoping to become a senator next year. He is, of course, partly right: His former chief-of-staff is now a lobbyist for, among others, a health care company that is Gingrey's biggest donor.

September 11, 2013 | Forget about Syria and the debt ceiling. For some of the world's biggest tech companies, the stuff that keeps birthday balloons afloat is at the center of a major lobbying campaign.

July 23, 2013 | In the first quarter of 2013, Big Pharma spent more than $66.5 million on lobbying -- more than any other industry. But its lobbying efforts in the second quarter shrunk dramatically; at least two companies spent less than half what they paid out from January through March.

July 23, 2013 | The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has spent more than $1 billion lobbying members of Congress and other officials since 1998 - by far a greater amount than any other organization over the period. The Chamber has no rivals in terms of raw resources devoted to lobbying - and may also have little competition when it comes to overall influence on the Hill.

July 12, 2013 | Organizing for Action, the nonprofit that evolved from President Obama's 2012 re-election committee, reports its second-quarter contributions (on a summertime Friday afternoon, of course!). No million-dollar-donors in the $8.3 million it brought in, but some bundlers and other deep-pocketed Democrats we've seen before. The group noted that more than 237,000 people have contributed, for an average gift of about $55.

July 12, 2013 | A pair of big-spending Democratic outside groups have launched a volley of attack ads in two states where hot Senate races may develop, and almost immediately an equally well-connected Republican group has fired back. Big names are directing the fight, but the names of donors bankrolling the exchange haven't been disclosed. In the case of one of the groups, they never will be.

July 11, 2013 | Animal welfare groups recently won a major victory when the head of the National Institutes of Health announced the agency would significantly curtail its use of great apes in scientific research. NIH's action follows the failure of congressional legislation in a climate where animal rights groups could never keep up with groups -- including drugmakers -- that opposed the bill, particularly when it came to spending on lobbying and campaign contributions.

June 14, 2013 | The Supreme Court found Thursday that human genes in their natural form cannot be patented, resolving the ongoing debate between medical research companies brought to national prominence in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics. This is not the first time these two groups have been involved in proceedings in the nation's capital.

June 12, 2013 | Women's issues advocacy groups and those favoring abortion rights -- which invested heavily in Obama's re-election -- were pleased with the Justice Department's announcement that it would stop legal efforts to keep younger teens from being able to buy Plan B One-Step without a prescription.

June 5, 2013 | Many of the top 10 university recipients of government R&D grants also were top spenders on lobbying compared with other schools -- and also were big contributors to federal candidates, parties and outside groups in the 2012 campaign cycle, OpenSecrets.org data shows.

May 31, 2013 | Ever since Jo Ann Emerson announced in early December that she would be leaving the House of Representatives, the race for the empty Missouri 8th district seat has been on. And if money talks, it's saying that aspiring congressman Jason Smith, a Republican, has seized a decisive advantage over his Democratic counterpart Steve Hodges. With the special election set for next week, it appears that the fundraising battle has already been won.

May 29, 2013 | A feeling of déjà vu permeates the current student loan debate. Just last June, President Barack Obama and Congress agreed on holding the interest rate for unsubsidized Stafford loans at 3.4 percent. However, that agreement expires on July 1.
Our data shows that the education industry has invested heavily in members of the House and Senate who currently are working on bills to address the issue.

May 22, 2013 | Two liberal tax-exempt groups, Citizens for Strength and Security and Patriot Majority, have killed themselves off and re-established multiple times, and sprouted various offshoots that play by different sets of rules. It makes them virtually impossible to track for the average citizen -- and maybe for the IRS, too.

May 10, 2013 | The anti-breast cancer group spent $140,000 on lobbying in the first quarter of 2012. A year later, that had dropped to just $10,000 -- a further indication that it hasn't recovered from the debacle caused by its short-lived decision to pull funding from Planned Parenthood.

May 2, 2013 | Following a pattern that has been playing out for the last few years, spending on federal lobbying declined in the first quarter of 2013. There were exceptions in connection with the hottest issues of the past three months, like the gun control debate; but overall, most organizations that traditionally spend big on lobbyists have cut back once again.

April 23, 2013 | With the Montana Democrat's departure, Capitol Hill loses a prodigious fundraiser, and one who wasn't embarrassed about his close ties to lobbyists: They provided him more than $1 million in contributions since 1990.

April 9, 2013 | Robin Kelly looks likely to cruise to an easy victory in today's special election in Illinois to fill former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.'s vacant seat. But despite a notable lack of competition from her GOP opponent, recent campaign filings show that Kelly has continued to scoop up large campaign contributions.

March 20, 2013 | Spending on lobbying as well as the number of active lobbyists was down in 2012. But nearly half of lobbyists who were active in 2011 but reported no lobbying in 2012 continued to work for the same employers -- suggesting that many have simply avoided the reporting limits while still contributing to lobbying efforts.

March 13, 2013 | Paul Ryan's latest budget, like his previous ones, shakes up Medicare, potentially creating more customers for health insurers. The insurance industry has been Ryan's top contributor over the course of his career (after retired people).

March 1, 2013 | With the possible opening of a new horse slaughterhouse, we look at lobbying on the issue. Also, Rep. Keith Ellison's in a throwdown with Sean Hannity, but it's probably a plus for the lawmaker.

February 27, 2013 | A new analysis by Remapping Debate and the Center for Responsive Politics shows that 41 high-ranking staffers for new members of Congress came from organizations that have a lobbying presence in Washington.

February 18, 2013 | Few states -- in fact only one -- beat Texas when it comes to providing political cash, but Democrats, with the help of demographics, will have to work hard to match Republicans in reeling it in. Also, Carnival Cruise Lines has taken its share of lumps lately, which may have some connection to its ramped up spending on Washington lobbying.

February 15, 2013 | When the Democrats were putting together their convention in Charlotte, they shunned corporate contributions, only to run into a funding crisis. Their workarounds included a loan guaranteed by Duke Energy -- a loan that appears to be turning into a donation.

February 12, 2013 | The economy, immigration, gun control and climate change are among the issues President Obama is expected to highlight in his address tonight. But don't expect any of his proposals to sail through Congress -- there are too many interests at stake for that.

February 12, 2013 | The owner of a Wisconsin brewery who will sit with Michelle Obama at tonight's speech has also contributed to several Democratic causes, including the president's campaigns. Also, Gabby Giffords' super PAC will run its first ad before and after the State of the Union in select markets, and public employee unions rally on Capitol Hill today to protect federal workers in sequestration negotiations.

February 7, 2013 | Sen. Robert Menendez' ties to a donor who's under FBI investigation are deeper than initially reported: According to the Washington Post, he contacted top federal health officials twice over their finding that the donor overbilled Medicare. And research by OpenSecrets.org shows the donor and his wife each contributed to Menendez' legal defense fund

January 30, 2013 | A South Florida doctor's office is raided by the FBI, apparently in connection with allegations that he provided free trips and hookers to Sen. Robert Menendez. True or not, the doctor and his family have been generous donors through the years -- mostly to Democrats.

January 29, 2013 | Lobbying in Washington declined for the second straight year, to its lowest level since 2007. Wall Street, insurance, lawyers and law firms and other industries all took hits, but none more so than education. Patton Boggs remained the top lobbying firm in terms of billings, but even it saw less revenue than it did in 2011.

January 24, 2013 | For both the defense sector and the pharmaceutical industry, 2012 lobbying numbers declined over 2011 -- despite a rush to keep the government from plunging over the fiscal cliff, taking many private sector entities with it.

January 23, 2013 | A few oil companies increased their lobbying budgets last year, but others cut back, some by a lot. Stand by for 2013, though, if climate change legislation begins percolating through Capitol Hill.

January 23, 2013 | The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its subsidiaries were by far the fourth quarter's biggest spenders on lobbying. But don't forget Google -- or the American Dehydrated Onion and Garlic Association.

January 22, 2013 | Many donors were among the V.I.P.'s to receive the royal treatment for President Obama's second invocation, earning what amounts to front row seats to watch the ceremony and performances at inaugural balls.

January 18, 2013 | The Lance Armstrong Foundation, which in November officially changed its name to the Livestrong Foundation, has spent over $2 million lobbying on funding for cancer research since 2001, and Boeing has some good friends in Washington help it battle the turbulence its currently experiencing.

January 15, 2013 | The auto industry may be showing off at the big show in Detroit this week, but many candidates have already seen the industry's best side. Also, the hospital industry fends off important cuts in the fiscal cliff legislation.

January 9, 2013 | Like everything else this election cycle, the inauguration festivities for President Barack Obama's second term will likely cost a fortune. The Center for Responsive Politics' new inaugural donor tracker compiles everything we know about the individuals and companies helping Obama's Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) pick up the tab.

January 9, 2013 | Texas billionaire Harold Simmons, who donated more than $20 million to American Crossroads, was fined by the Texas Ethics Commission for making illegal contributions to 18 Texas lawmakers in 2011.

January 3, 2013 | Will Scott Brown jump back into the frying pan so soon after his bruising, and incredibly costly, 2012 race? A big factor is whether he thinks he can raise the money for a third race in four years. Also, how the fiscal cliff legislation came to include tax credits benefiting many large corporations, and why New Jersey and New York matter to lawmakers like John Boehner.

December 26, 2012 | It's that time of the year where retiring members of Congress or those who were forced out by voters begin looking for jobs elsewhere -- such as K Street. Making the jump from lawmaker to lobbyist is lucrative. Some members aren't even waiting for their terms to expire.

December 20, 2012 | Two members of Congress -- a Republican and a Democrat -- are on the NRA's board of directors. Also, members of Congress and GM stock, and Sen. Tom Harkin's relationship with a company pushing the dollar coin.

December 17, 2012 | A new filing by the Center to Protect Patient Rights shows the group, a secretive 501(c)(4) nonprofit, gave millions to other groups that spent heavily on ads in the 2012 election cycle.

December 17, 2012 | West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin (D) is one of the few Democrats who receives campaign cash from the National Rifle Association, but this morning he said he was ready to talk about gun control.

December 13, 2012 | The Center for Responsive Politics looks at the donor demographics for the presidential race, a poll shows Ashley Judd is the favored Democrat to run for Senate in Kentucky and a lobbying firm picks up a big name.

December 12, 2012 | With the final fundraising numbers filed, Barack Obama's leading contributing industry was lawyers and law firms with $27 million, while Wall Street was Mitt Romney's, giving him $21 million.

December 7, 2012 | Dick Morris' Super PAC for America raised more than $3 million, mostly from donors of $200 or less, in the six weeks before the election. But it sent more than half of that to Newsmax, a conservative website. Only $1.5 million went to oppose Barack Obama's re-election.

December 7, 2012 | Priorities USA Action brought in $15 million in the weeks before the election, and after the vote still had $4 million in the bank. The Adelsons send $23 million to American Crossroads in the final days. A union-funded group spends $1 million against Scott Brown just before the vote. And FreedomWorks for America picks up another $5 million-plus from the mysterious Specialty Group.

December 6, 2012 | A White House aide and major player in designing the health care law heads back to the private sector, anti-tea party super PAC CREDO spent big in the final days of the election and lobbying on soot gets messy.

December 3, 2012 | This year's Farm Bill, including its food stamp provisions, stalled in the House before the election. But the program has a big constituency, and it's not just poor people -- something lawmakers looking for budget cuts might want to keep in mind.

December 3, 2012 | J.C. Watts, who's being mentioned as a possible RNC chair, has some strong ties to shadow money. A dialysis company that's accused of defrauding Medicare and Medicaid has invested heavily in Washington. And Bloomberg's pro-gun control super PAC likely had an impact.

November 29, 2012 | U.N. Ambassador and Secretary of State candidate Susan Rice is one of the wealthiest members of the executive branch, and she has millions of dollars in the finance, insurance, real estate and energy and natural resources sectors.

November 29, 2012 | BP is banned from government contracts for now, but will that affect its slow climb back in the political realm? Also, what to do next if you're a super PAC or other independent-expenditure group? Why not try lobbying?

November 26, 2012 | Puerto Rico doesn't need statehood to be a major player in Washington, Patty Murray emerges as the powerbroker on the fiscal cliff and Romney beat Obama in Iowa -- at least in terms of spending.

November 16, 2012 | Whistleblower protections eaten away by the courts are back -- and yes, there was lobbying on the bill. Meanwhile, the Torch is back, showing up on federal lobbying registration forms for the first time.

November 7, 2012 | Some winning challengers yesterday had a cash advantage to neutralize the incumbent advantage, though a couple of races where challengers won the fundraising battle are still too close to call.

November 1, 2012 | It would appear that Jeff Flake holds all the cards in his campaign to win Arizona's open Senate seat. But despite having outraised his Democratic opponent, and having more outside spending going his way, Flake's move to the other side of the Capitol is far from certain.

October 22, 2012 | J. Joe Rickett's Ending Spending super PAC is only starting to spend the millions it received this month; Jesse Jackson Jr. maintains his lead in the race for campaign dollars despite his troubles; and the "other" presidential candidates had a tougher month than the two big guys.

October 18, 2012 | The story of how the conventions were funded this year follows much the same path as the whole campaign finance narrative this year -- the Republicans dominated the money game, pushed by big dollar donations from billionaires, while Democrats turned to traditional allies and two big hometown corporations to pay their convention bill.

October 11, 2012 | The Army says it doesn't need any more M-1 Abrams tanks, but it may get them anyway. The company that makes them just happens to be one of the largest contributors to campaigns nationwide.

October 8, 2012 | CRP's collaboration with the Investigative News Network, the National Institute for Money in State Politics and news outlets in seven states yields a close look at wealthy donors' wide-ranging giving.

September 28, 2012 | Residents have begun early voting in Iowa, the first swing state to start in-person voting in the presidential election. The Hawkeye State loves those firsts, but it's way down the list when it comes to political contributions.

September 24, 2012 | If American Crossroads founder Karl Rove ever takes a road trip back home to Dallas, he'll have some friendly options for gas and grub along the way. Pilot Corp., the company that owns and operates the eponymous gas stations and highway travel centers, as well as the Flying J truck stop chain, helped fill up Crossroads' tank with cash in August.

September 18, 2012 | Citizens United is back, four years later, with another hour-long documentary about another Democratic presidential candidate! We're trying not to get too nostalgic. But good luck finding it on your local cable lineup.

September 17, 2012 | The race between Tammy Baldwin and Tommy Thompson for a Wisconsin Senate seat shows Thompson's fundraising has been far less hearty than Baldwin's -- but what a difference name recognition makes.

September 14, 2012 | Mayor Michael Bloomberg may well have spent last night with a cigar in one hand and a glass of not-a-soft-drink in the other. He could celebrate the New York City Board of Health's approval of his proposal to restrict the sale of sugary soda pop larger than 16 ounces. Dare anyone follow up at the national level? We offer some cold, hard numbers to consider.

September 11, 2012 | Three of the candidates who are likely to emerge winners of today's primaries in New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Delaware will go straight into general election contests that are rated as toss-ups as Republicans fight to retain their large majority in the House.

September 5, 2012 | After a week of political pageantry and Republican politics in Tampa Bay, the spotlight turns to Democrats this week, as they kick off their own party convention in the battleground state of North Carolina. Readers of this blog know all too well what that means: It's party time.

August 22, 2012 | Two new lobbying registrations this week have ties to Native American tribes, according to Politico. The National Indian Gaming Association and Chickasaw Nation Industries have officially hired Ben Nighthorse Consultants, Inc. and Sprit Rock Consulting, respectively, to represent their interests in the federal government.

August 9, 2012 | After nearly two weeks of stiff competition among K Street's most powerful forces, the final -- and toughest -- event at Washington's Influence Olympics is upon us: the marathon. Like the actual event at the London Games, participants in the marathon at the Influence Olympics must possess the endurance to sustain a strong lobbying operation over a long period of time. Unlike the real Olympics, however, many of the top sprinters are also among the most competitive marathon runners.

August 7, 2012 | The UK is third in the Olympics medal count, but first when it comes to foreign-linked PAC contributions to U.S. candidates. Companies that make full-body scanners get serious about lobbying, and we examine a mega-hospital corporation's ties to Washington.

August 2, 2012 | To emerge victorious from this event, lobbying firms must prove they can knock out the competition by offering representation on a broad range of issues to an array of industries -- thus packing a heck of a bottom line punch.

July 31, 2012 | The U.S. may have taken gold in women's gymnastics today -- but who medaled in the decathlon in Washington's Influence Olympics? The winners, some of whom had very limited resources, lobbied on the greatest number of issues.

July 27, 2012 | The share of Romney's fundraising take from women hits a new low for 2012, while Obama's is again on the rise, and Wall Street falls out of the top five industry donors to the Republican candidate. And the gap between liberal and conservative super PAC spending is narrowing.

July 27, 2012 | Millions of people all over the world today will tune in for the event that comes but once every four years: the Opening Ceremony of the Summer Olympics. This year, there are 53 official corporate sponsors of the Olympics, most of which have a multinational reach. And just about any major company that's doing business in the U.S. is likely to a have a stake in what's going on in Washington. Of the 53 Olympic sponsors, 29 have lobbied the federal government since the last Summer Games, even those that are not based in the U.S. Welcome to the Influence Olympics!

July 20, 2012 | A new super PAC targeting a Tennessee House primary has raised all its funds from a board member of a local anti-Islamic conservative group who is also the one-time finance chairman of one of the candidates in the race.

July 20, 2012 | Actors and others tied to new blockbuster love Obama (well, mostly). Dietary supplement makers, not so much -- they bundle for Romney. But the Republican candidate would rather eat Jimmy John's.

July 16, 2012 | Of all the potential GOP vice presidential candidates who might -- or might not -- be on Mitt Romney's short list, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal might present the biggest contrast with Romney himself.

July 12, 2012 | After being elected to the Senate just two years ago, Ayotte is in the running as a possible veep candidate. She's one of Sarah Palin's "mamma grizzlies," and has attracted lots of checks from other politicians' leadership PACs as well as from insurance and financial firms.

July 10, 2012 | President Obama is picking a fight on the extension of the Bush tax cuts -- an issue which, when last debated on Capitol Hill, attracted hundreds of lobbying efforts. That story and more in today's Capital Eye Opener.

July 6, 2012 | After riding an anti-establishment Tea Party wave into office in 2010, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has gone from being a relatively unknown state representative to a potential vice presidential pick in just two short years. Although some have reported that GOP candidate Mitt Romney is not vetting Rubio, the campaign insists it is considering the 41-year-old Florida native for the VP slot.

July 3, 2012 | Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) is moving on from his successful leadership PAC so that the group can create a new super PAC, GlaxoSmithKline agrees to the largest health care fraud settlement in U.S. history with the Justice Department and FC New York sports pro-Romney apparel.

June 29, 2012 | It didn't take long. Almost as soon as the U.S. Supreme Court issued its 5-4 decision upholding President Barack Obama's signature health care law yesterday morning, politicos from both sides of the aisle moved into strategy mode, flooding the Internet and supporters' inboxes with fundraising appeals meant to capitalize on the momentous decision.

June 28, 2012 | The primary battle between Republican James Bridenstine and Rep. John Sullivan (R-OK) in Oklahoma's 1st Congressional District was not only a clash of Tea Party and establishment Republicans, but of different types of medical professionals.

June 25, 2012 | Its recent troubles aside, Ogilvy Government Relations has been a K Street powerhouse for the past five years. One client has stood head and shoulders above the others during that stretch.

June 25, 2012 | Voters are poised to go to the polls in Rangel race while Madoff ally J. Ezra Merkin, a big contributor to both Dems and Republicans, reaches a settlement agreement with New York's attorney general. And the Washington Post again relies on CRP data for investigation of how lawmakers rearranged their portfolios during the financial crisis.

June 18, 2012 | A steady flow of politicians to fairways is par for the course in Washington, D.C. It's also true that golfing interests have beat a path in the opposite direction, to the nation's capital.

June 18, 2012 | Last week's House passage of Rep. Erik Paulsen's Health Care Cost Reduction Act was a victory for the Minnesota Republican -- a boost to his political career, and perhaps his investment portfolio too.

June 18, 2012 | One hundred twenty-seven years ago yesterday, the Statute of Liberty arrived on American shores. In the decades that followed, more than 12 million immigrants passed by, looking to her as a symbol of hope and freedom -- including the freedom to write checks to politicians.

May 31, 2012 | New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposed ban on the sale of large sodas and other sugary drinks in the city's food service outlets isn't likely to translate to the federal stage anytime soon, in no small part due to the lobbying power of the American Beverage Association and companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

May 31, 2012 | The World Health Organization is encouraging smokers around the globe today to ditch their cigarettes, if only for 24 hours, to mark "World No Tobacco Day," an annual event designed to promote a tobacco-free lifestyle. In the U.S., though, big tobacco companies are doing their best to ensure Washington doesn't follow that lead or take other steps that would hurt sales. That includes providing campaign cash for many politicians, including House Majority Leader Eric Cantor: Altria Group is his third-largest career donor.

May 30, 2012 | The vote in Tuesday's GOP primary in Texas' District 21 was not close; the financial race was, if anything, more one-sided. Companies and industry groups that lobbied for SOPA -- including some that hired the lobbying firm run by Smith's former chief of staff -- contributed heavily to Smith's campaign.

May 29, 2012 | When a giant New York law firm falls, the reverberations can be strong in the nation's capital. The firm Dewey & LeBoeuf filed for bankruptcy Monday, after shutting its Washington lobbying practice two weeks ago. Its clients at the time it closed included several insurance giants, such as Lloyd's of London and Aflac.

May 29, 2012 | Not all contributing industries are made for marquees. Some businesses making an electoral impact are more down to earth, or -- as is the case with the subject of this week's Politiquizz -- underneath it.

May 24, 2012 | While you're baking in the sun this weekend to celebrate the first days of summer, don't forget the sunscreen. Also, remember that while you relax, someone in Washington is probably hard at work devising a lobbying strategy on what the label should say. The "Big Sunscreen" lobby, revealed!

May 18, 2012 | A secretive, well-funded group provided $44 million in 2010 to a host of 501(c)(4) groups, many of which were among the most active in airing ads attacking Democrats in the midterm elections. The Center to Protect Patient Rights was the source of more than half the budget of the group American Future Fund, for example. The Center's role in funding the groups has not previously been reported.

May 3, 2012 | The nation's capital actually has quite a bit of say in what has become the extremely lucrative business of professional football. And in turn, the NFL has quite the presence in Washington.

April 24, 2012 | This is no man-bites-dog story. Law firms led the list of top donors to Barack Obama's presidential campaign in March, while top financial firms were the chief backer's of Mitt Romney's bid. And the top industry donating to super PACs: wealthy individuals in finance. Overall, an analysis of OpenSecrets.org data shows, the candidates didn't stray far from their past fundraising patterns: industries that have been well represented in the top ten stayed there, with a few variations.

April 20, 2012 | As one of the largest corporations in the world, BP has always had a healthy presence here, but its involvement with politicians mostly came to a screeching halt after the Deep Water Horizon exploded and oil began gushing. Whether it was due to politicians refusing to take the money (which actually did happen) or BP trying to keep a low profile, the British oil money did stop flowing into Washington -- faster, in fact, than the actual oil stopped flowing into the Gulf. The company revived its Washington operations last year, but the comeback has been slow.

April 5, 2012 | Two years ago today, the Upper Big Branch mine exploded, killing 29 miners and injuring two others. In the months after, it became clear that the mine's owner, Massey Energy, had flouted safety regulations and tried to game the system. Now its CEO is gone and the company's been sold -- but the coal industry is only spending more on politicians and lobbyists.

March 23, 2012 | Let there be no doubt where Wall Street's political loyalties lie: Of all the money the securities and investment industry has poured into the 2012 presidential contest so far -- to the candidates and the super PACs behind them -- an unambiguous 92 percent has gone to the GOP, according to a new Center for Responsive Politics analysis.

March 20, 2012 | Blue Dog Democrats are an endangered species on Capitol Hill, but their fundraising suggests they may be clawing their way back with a little help from Democratic leadership PACs, among others.

March 5, 2012 | Donors to Americans for Prosperity, a 501(c)(4) group founded by one of the Koch brothers and heavily involved in politics, include several conservative foundations, the American Petroleum Institute, and a conduit fund designed to give contributors an extra layer of anonymity. The sources of about 75 percent of its 2010 budget remain even more of a mystery.

March 2, 2012 | Welcome to the latest installment of OpenSecrets Blog's Mailbag, where we answer your burning questions about the role of money in politics, political influence and the work we do here at OpenSecrets.org.

February 29, 2012 | January proved to be a financially fruitful month for presidential candidate Rick Santorum, bringing a spike in contributions from individuals in several important industries. See what sectors and industries were the most important to Santorum's campaign.

February 7, 2012 | Planned Parenthood fields a tough defense. Anyone who didn't figure that out last week, when a breast cancer charity cut off the group's funding and quickly reversed course, could have looked at its lobbying expenditures for 2011, the year Republicans re-took control of the house and posed a significant threat to its bottom line.

February 2, 2012 | Republican Mitt Romney relied on the finance, insurance and real estate sector for roughly $2 out of every $11 he raised during the fourth quarter of 2011, according to a new analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics of campaign finance documents submitted Tuesday to the Federal Election Commission.

January 27, 2012 | President Barack Obama's re-election campaign is refunding the donations of five registered federal lobbyists who gave to the committee last year, OpenSecrets Blog has learned. Some of these refunds were triggered after OpenSecrets Blog brought the contributions to the campaign's attention. The Obama campaign has pledged to refuse contributions from lobbyists, continuing a policy it set during the 2008 campaign.

January 26, 2012 | The nation's economy may be slowly rebounding, but during 2011, the economic engine of K Street sputtered. Overall expenditures on lobbying were down for the first time in more than a decade, according to research by the Center for Responsive Politics.

January 9, 2012 | Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.) has become the latest incumbent member of the U.S. House of Representatives to set his sights on the exit. This weekend, Gallegly announced his plans to retire at the end of his current term rather than seek reelection in a district that would pit him against House Armed Services Committee Chair Howard "Buck" McKeon (R-Calif.).

December 19, 2011 | Finding the price of the bounty in the "12 Days of Christmas" carol a little steep? Well, no wonder. Do you have any idea how much the groups representing each of those presents spend lobbying the federal government each year?

December 16, 2011 | Lawrence Lessig, a Harvard law professor and writer, stepped into the campaign finance realm only recently, and only, as he sees it, out of necessity. OpenSecrets Blog spoke with Lessig about his new book, "Republic, Lost," and what it describes as the "one issue in this country" that ties together all the others: campaign finance reform.

December 7, 2011 | The White House press shop will soon have a new addition: Jennifer Palmieri, who will be the deputy communications director. Despite her status as a former lobbyist, Palmieri is likely to find a welcome home working for a president who once vowed that lobbyists would not "find a job in my White House."

November 28, 2011 | Is the lure of the private sector too much for Rep. Charlie Gonzalez (D-Texas)? Over the weekend, Gonzalez, the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and a seven-term congressman, announced that he would not seek re-election at the end of his term next year.

November 23, 2011 | When deciding where to invest, spreading your money around increases the chance you'll pick a winner, and limits your losses if you pick a loser. In the same way, the wealthiest Americans often diversify their investments in the presidential candidates to increase the chances they'll be a part of to the winning candidate's victory.

November 17, 2011 | Republican presidential candidate Gary Johnson filed complaints against the FEC and FCC Tuesday after he was excluded from Saturday's televised debate in South Carolina. Johnson's campaign alleges that CBS, which aired the debate, arbitrarily chose who would be in the debate and therefore advocated for their preferred candidates. That's for the courts to decide, but Viacom, which owns CBS, has directly contributed to several campaigns this year.

November 15, 2011 | The twelve members of Congress on the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction -- better known as the debt supercommittee -- have just seven days left to provide Congress with recommendations to cut more than $1.2 trillion from the federal deficit, if they are to meet their November 23rd deadline. And the more time that passes, the slimmer the odds for the public to see those recommendations before they go to a vote in Congress, scheduled for that same day.

November 15, 2011 | As the deadline approaches for the supercommittee to agree on $1.2 trillion in cuts to the federal budget, the influence of one unelected player may make the difference, the Wall Street Journal reported. Antitax advocate Grover Norquist could be a big reason for the supercommittee's stalemate, thanks in part to his nonprofit's deep pockets.

November 14, 2011 | Despite the move last week by Jefferson County, Ala., to file for bankruptcy, the residents of the region have continually been among the most generous Alabamians in terms of their campaign contributions.

November 11, 2011 | More companies, unions and other groups could lobby the Department of Veterans Affairs this year than ever before, according to research by the Center for Responsive Politics. Through the end of September, 254 organizations reported lobbying the VA.

November 8, 2011 | The bill sponsored by Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.) to repeal the tax on medical devices is gaining momentum and now has 218 co-sponsors, the minimum number of votes needed for it to pass, according to a Medical Technology caucus press release. The progress of the Protect Medical Innovation Act is partly a result of extensive lobbying efforts and political contributions of medical groups in favor of the bill.

November 4, 2011 | The contentious bill has not only gained attention during the GOP presidential debates, with shout-outs from former Massachusetts governor and current presidential candidate Mitt Romney, but also with some high profile organizations lobbying on the bill.

November 3, 2011 | Occupy DC protesters announced plans this week to demonstrate at a conference sponsored by the conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity, a non-profit conservative advocacy group funded in large part by libertarian businessmen Charles and David Koch.

November 2, 2011 | During the third quarter of 2011, more than 400 companies, unions, trade associations and other groups reported lobbying the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, popularly known as the debt supercommittee, according to a new analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics of reports filed last month with the U.S. Senate.

November 2, 2011 | Lobbying expenditures fell during the third quarter of 2011 for many of the country's most prominent companies, especially those in the energy and natural resource sector, according to a preliminary analysis of about 90 percent of all third-quarter lobbying reports by the Center for Responsive Politics.

October 31, 2011 | During the third quarter of 2011, more than 10,000 individual lobbyists actively worked to advance the interests of their clients and monitored political developments in the nation's capital. That's roughly 20 lobbyists for every member of Congress.

October 25, 2011 | Though President Barack Obama may no longer be Wall Street's preferred candidate, Obama continues to win the support of several smaller sectors and interest groups, including lawyers, health professionals, the technology industry and Hollywood.

October 13, 2011 | President Barack Obama continues to be a fund-raising juggernaut, practically exceeding the fund-raising total of the entire GOP field combined. During the third quarter, Obama raised $70.1 million, his campaign announced today.

October 12, 2011 | Despite the lockout, the NBA's spending in Washington has remained to be a budget item. During the first half of 2011, the NBA spent $40,000 on federal lobbying, focused on "federal issues affecting professional sports leagues" and "cable television and copyright regulations," as well as seeking to "protect collectively bargained drug testing agreements."

October 6, 2011 | Bank of America's decision to charge its debit card users $5 per month has drawn the ire first of customers, and now, politicians, including President Barack Obama, who collected about $395,000 from Bank of America employees during his 2008 presidential run -- although this year BofA employees have favored Republican Mitt Romney with their campaign cash.

September 29, 2011 | Thousands of political action committee committees thrive in the federal political landscape, and new ones are popping up every week. Yet based on the names of these groups alone, the average voter rarely has enough information to determine the agenda of a particular PAC -- especially leadership PACs and super PACS.

September 27, 2011 | Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the committee that oversees the Postal Service, was once a top beneficiary of money from postal union PACs. But now, after pushing his Postal Reform Act through a House subcommittee, postal unions consider Issa their greatest foe.

September 27, 2011 | Research by the Center for Responsive Politics shows that President Barack Obama and his GOP rival Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, are the only two presidential candidates to have raised more than $40,000 from the health insurance industry so far this election cycle.

September 21, 2011 | A South Carolina pharmaceutical executive and major contributor to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has been indicted for making at least $31,000 in illegal donations to the senator and embezzling at least $3.6 million of federal grant money, which Graham helped to earmark.

September 21, 2011 | The future of Medicare is a hot political topic. And as President Barack Obama, his potential GOP rivals and members of Congress debate the future of the program, it's likely that campaign cash from retired Americans will also be on their minds.

September 16, 2011 | The "Cola Wars" aren't raging quite as hard as they were during the 1980s and 1990s, but chances are you know at least a few people who are such die-hard Coke or Pepsi fans they wouldn't even dream of drinking the other.

September 14, 2011 | A report released last week by the Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest, which uses data from the Center for Responsive Politics, argues that to President Barack Obama's attempts to reduce the influence of lobbyists in Washington have instead led to decreased transparency and harmed the public interest.

September 13, 2011 | This morning, the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on crime, terrorism and homeland security will hold a hearing on H.R. 822, the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act of 2011, legislation that has been targeted by both gun control groups and organizations supportive of gun rights.

September 12, 2011 | Twenty-three corporations -- including AT&T, Exxon Mobil, Kraft, Coca-Cola and Koch Industries -- compose the ALEC's "private enterprise board." On the national level, these companies have been mustering a juggernaut of lobbyists to target congressional initiatives and donating extensively to a number of candidates.

September 10, 2011 | Welcome to the latest installment of OpenSecrets.org Mailbag, where we answer your burning questions about the role of money in politics, political influence and the work we do here at OpenSecrets.org.

September 8, 2011 | As the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction meets for the first time today, the Center for Responsive Politics is unveiling new tools to help you investigate the money behind the 12 lawmakers on the new panel, which is tasked with cutting $1.5 trillion from the national debt.

September 6, 2011 | Federal law requires the nine Supreme Court justices to annually disclose details about their personal finances. These records can reveal potential conflicts of interest and offer a look into the lives of the justices outside the chambers of the Supreme Court.

September 2, 2011 | The White House has a new online platform that aims to streamline government petitions. Called "We the People", the crowd-sourcing network allows individuals to create petitions calling for government action on issues.

August 31, 2011 | The co-chairs of the 12-member supercommittee charged with chopping $1.5 trillion from the nation's debt have chosen Mark Prater, the chief tax lawyer for the Senate Finance Committee, as the new group's staff director.

August 30, 2011 | Decades after former NAACP counsel Thurgood Marshall joined the U.S. Supreme Court, the NAACP is still fighting to eliminate racial prejudices and to secure political, educational, social, and economic equality of all citizens. And part of that fight involves lobbying in the nation's halls of power.

August 26, 2011 | The AFL-CIO will soon join more than a hundred other groups in the ranks of those with super PACs. The organization says it will use its new power to harness unlimited contributions from union members and other donors for state elections, rather than on the national level.

August 25, 2011 | The Obama Victory Fund, a joint fund-raising committee that supports both President Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee, raised a total of $39 million during the first half of 2011.
And according to a new analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics, the Obama Victory Fund has relied on donors on both coasts as well as deep in the heart of Texas.

August 22, 2011 | Earlier this year, Republicans in both the House and Senate introduced resolutions urging approval of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement. At since then, hundreds of companies, unions and trade associations have set their sites on the proposal.

August 17, 2011 | As the supercommittee meets to come up with a way to cut $1.5 trillion from the national debt, the decisions about which programs will be axed will be made by lawmakers, who, by and large, are far wealthier than the average American.

August 17, 2011 | Many special interest groups have invested heavily in supercommittee members on both sides of the aisle, including the securities and investment firms, the real estate industry and health professionals, according to new research by the Center for Responsive Politics.

August 17, 2011 | The 12 members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction won't be legislating in a vacuum: They bring with them ties to particular industries and loyalties to particular issues.

August 15, 2011 | House Tea Party Caucus founder Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) prevailed in Saturday's straw poll in Ames, Iowa. Bachmann has raised $3.6 million as of June 30. Her victory in the Ames Straw Poll will likely boost her future fund-raising hauls.

August 11, 2011 | At least 325 individuals who donated $200 or more during the first six months of 2011 contributed to multiple presidential candidates, a new analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics shows.

August 10, 2011 | One-fifth of the 377 joint fund-raising committees active during the 2010 election cycle received at least half of their donations from one sector. Less than one percent of candidate committees, on the other hand, typically received 50 percent or more of their donations from one sector during the same time period.

August 8, 2011 | President Barack Obama announced Thursday that Steven VanRoekel will be promoted to be the executive branch's chief information officer. VanRoekel comes to the post from Microsoft, by way of the Federal Communications Commission. VanRoekel and his wife Caroline, however, are no strangers to the political process.

August 5, 2011 | Republican presidential hopefuls' underwhelming second-quarter fund-raising totals can be attributed, in part, to a large network of elite GOP fund-raisers that remains untapped, the New York Times reported.

August 2, 2011 | MTV celebrated its 30th birthday Monday. For nearly MTV's entire life, it has been owned by a single parent-company: Viacom, which donated more than $237,000 to federal candidates during the 2010 election cycle.

August 1, 2011 | Both Reid and McConnell received most of their money from lawyers, health professionals, the real estate industry and the securities and investments industry between 2005 and 2010. And employees and political action committees associated with at least four companies contributed heavily to both men during this time period.

July 26, 2011 | Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.), one of the 25 remaining Blue Dog Democrats in Congress, announced Monday that he would not be seeking a seventh term, leaving his seat in a GOP-leaning district up for grabs.

July 25, 2011 | Two dozen Floridians have collectively bundled at least $3.55 million for President Barack Obama's re-election efforts, including 15 individuals who did not bundle money on Obama's behalf during his 2008 presidential campaign. Among some of the high-profile new names on the list? Democratic operative Ben Pollara, businessman Stephen Bittel and trial lawyer John Morgan.

July 22, 2011 | One-third of the money President Barack Obama's elite fund-raising corps has raised on behalf of his re-election has come from the financial sector, according to a new Center for Responsive Politics analysis. Individuals who work in the finance, insurance and real estate sector are responsible for raising at least $11.3 million for Obama's campaign and the Democratic National Committee, according to the Center's research.

July 22, 2011 | Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) is playing the victim in attempt to raise more campaign cash. A fund-raising email with subject line "vile, despicable, and unprofessional," calls DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, an "attack dog for the 'vast left wing conspiracy,'" and says West is the subject of those attacks.

July 20, 2011 | After nearly half the coalition was wiped out in the 2010 elections, Blue Dog Democrats are becoming more and more of an endangered species. Just 25 Blue Dogs remain in office. But if money is any indication, those Blue Dogs that remain appear ready to put up a tough fight in 2012.

July 20, 2011 | Given the on-going debt-ceiling battle and fights over what deserves government funding, tackling the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind seems like less and less of a reality. However, that's not stopping lobbyists from pushing for what they believe in when it comes to childhood education.

July 14, 2011 | Political science professor James A. Thurber, the founder and director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University, talks with OpenSecrets Blog about President Barack Obama's time in the White House, Obama's fund-raising machine, federal lobbying regulations and the proliferation of outside spending.

July 13, 2011 | When it comes to the government lobbying efforts of most religious institutions, their activities are notably shrouded in darkness, even as representatives of numerous faiths routinely pressure federal lawmakers on issues ranging from health care to international relations, poverty to abortion rights.

July 13, 2011 | Wedding season is in full swing. As many soon-to-be-married people spend hundreds of dollars preparing for their weddings, major wedding vendors also spend a healthy amount of money attempting to influence government policy.

July 12, 2011 | Congress, one of America's longest-standing institutions, employs thousands of people. Many of them are former campaign staffers for senators and representatives. Others are policy experts with years of experience. And hundreds are former lobbyists who used to lobby the very institution for which they now work.

June 22, 2011 | Veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are fighting a bloodless battle in Washington. But like the wars oversees, the conflict in the nation's capital is also being driven by a large force and sizable amounts of money.

June 20, 2011 | Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman has personally donated tens of thousands of dollars to political candidates and committees during the past two decades, according to research by the Center for Responsive Politics. He was also among the 536 elite "bundlers" who directed nearly $76 million to McCain's campaign. How much money did Huntsman himself bundle for the McCain campaign in 2008?

May 27, 2011 | Although a variety of factors likely went into each senator's decision to vote down the Ryan budget, interestingly, retirees -- who often lean Republican in their political contributions, as OpenSecrets Blog has previously noted -- are among the top donors to all four Republican senators who voted against the bill.

May 13, 2011 | Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), the granddaddy of the Tea Party movement, showed the world he could turn enthusiastic grassroots support into political gold during the 2008 election cycle. But as he again seeks the GOP presidential nomination this year, Paul hopes he won't be just playing second fiddle to the Romneys and Gingriches of the race.

May 12, 2011 | Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), the founder of the House Tea Party Caucus, is weighing a presidential bid. And as she does, Bachmann may have a strong claim on President Barack Obama's mantle of small-dollar donor fund-raising success.

May 6, 2011 | While former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain has never occupied elected office, he is no stranger to Washington's world of money in politics. Cain has regularly opened his wallet for political allies, and he even operates his own political action committee, called the Hermanator PAC.

May 4, 2011 | What do you do when you're a foreign government facing heat from U.S. lawmakers about whether you were officially hiding, aiding or abetting Osama bin Laden? Turn to federal lobbyists for assistance, of course.

May 3, 2011 | Several of the year's hottest political topics have witnessed the greatest increase in lobbyists' attention during the first months of the 112th Congress, according to a preliminary analysis of lobbying reports by the Center for Responsive Politics.

May 2, 2011 | In all, 43 different companies, organizations and special interest groups last year employed at least three former congressmen as registered federal lobbyists, a Center for Responsive Politics analysis indicates.

April 29, 2011 | Unlike political committees or candidates for federal office, the Democratic Governors Association and Republican Governors Association both may receive unlimited amounts of money in their bids to support gubernatorial candidates across the nation. And raise cash they did.

April 21, 2011 | Facing a newly divided Congress and a murky legislative outlook in the near future, many of the nation's most active government lobbying powerhouses are slowing the pace of their spending, preliminary analysis of first quarter federal lobbying reports show.

April 14, 2011 | Many of the 87 House GOP freshmen who ran as Washington outsiders are now turning to K Street lobbyists and other special interest groups to help pay off their sizable campaign debts and prepare for their re-election campaigns.

April 13, 2011 | It's no secret that corporations and special interest groups that dominate lobbying in the nation's capital routinely shower campaign cash on congressional committees directly affecting affect their business interests. But a study by the Center for Responsive Politics and The Fiscal Times found that special interests routinely target members of Congress who can do them the most good.

April 13, 2011 | The Center for Responsive Politics (OpenSecrets.org) and The Fiscal Times have today launched a joint reporting project that explores the intimate ties among congressional committees and the moneyed industries and special interests that seek to influence them

April 8, 2011 | While President Barack Obama has not changed the way Washington works, political science professor James Thurber said Obama has instead adapted, preserved in trying circumstances and seen tremendous legislative successes.

April 8, 2011 | Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) released his budget proposal Tuesday calling to cut spending by $5.8 trillion over the next ten years. Ryan himself is actually one of the top Republican recipients of political action committee contributions from the health sector.

April 5, 2011 | "In politics money = access," a donation solicitation from the Physician Hospitals of America obtained by OpenSecrets Blog states as one of five reasons to financially support the organization's political action committee. "We need access to our politicians to educate them about who we are, what we provide, why we exist and how we benefit patients, physicians, communities and the healthcare industry."

April 1, 2011 | In a dispute with Home Depot regarding shareholders' rights to know about the company's political spending, the Securities and Exchange Commission has come down on the side of additional transparency. Shareholder activism has been a hot bed of activity since the U.S. Supreme Court, a year ago, overturned a ban on corporate independent expenditures in federal elections in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

March 30, 2011 | Earlier this week, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) urged his colleagues to support new legislation to close "corporate tax loopholes." As part of his pitch, Sanders highlighted the 10 "worst corporate income tax avoiders" -- many of which are among the biggest spenders when in comes to lobbying in the nation's capital, according to research by the Center for Responsive Politics.

March 24, 2011 | Fred Karger, a California gay-rights activist and former political operative, submitted papers Wednesday to the Federal Elections Commission to become an official 2012 Republican presidential contender.

March 23, 2011 | With all the news coming in from Japan, Libya and other countries in the Middle East, news coverage over the budget debate seems to have been sidelined somewhat. Nonetheless, legislators on Capitol Hill are still working to come to some sort of compromise..

March 22, 2011 | Republican Tim Pawlenty, who yesterday launched a presidential exploratory committee, built a massive war chest during the 2010 election cycle to aid fellow Republicans. Who was fueling this money machine?

March 10, 2011 | One out of every four groups that lobbied on any issue at the federal level during 2009 or 2010 targeted their efforts on health care reform, financial regulatory reform, the stimulus and cap-and-trade climate proposals, according to research by the Center for Responsive Politics.

March 9, 2011 | U.S. House and Senate freshmen are together a notably wealthy bunch, enjoying exponentially greater wealth than most of the Americans they represent, according to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis of federal personal financial disclosure reports.

March 4, 2011 | Welcome to the latest installment of OpenSecrets.org Mailbag, where we answer your burning questions about the role of money in politics, political influence and the work we do here at OpenSecrets.org.

March 1, 2011 | Karl Rove was once known by his boss, President George W. Bush, as Turd Blossom, but can his new nickname be the Comeback Kid? An article in New York Magazine explains that after numerous political setbacks, scandal and an ideologically divided party the former senior adviser to Bush "has a new lease on life" mainly in due to his political committees' fund-raising and electoral success.

February 25, 2011 | Before the subprime mortgage meltdown, accusations of fraud and insider trading and congressional investigations into his VIP mortgage program, Countrywide Chairman Angelo Mozilo was a generous campaign donor. Between January 1989 and June 2008 -- when Mozilo left Countrywide -- he donated about $120,000 to federal candidates and committees, according to a Center for Responsive Politics review of campaign finance records.

February 24, 2011 | Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat, can add another title to his extensive resume of public and private sector careers. On Wednesday, Richardson joined APCO Worldwide, a global public relations firm.

February 18, 2011 | Health services and abortion provider Planned Parenthood today landed on the government's budgetary chopping block. But Planned Parenthood, more so than any other abortion rights organization, is positioned to fight back.

February 18, 2011 | Like members of Congress, justices serving on the highest court in the land are required by law to annually disclose information about their personal investments. You can now find copies of these materials all of the Supreme Court justices in the Center for Responsive Politics' personal financial disclosure database.

February 17, 2011 | For Google and Facebook, the president serving as their pitchman is indicative of their meteoric rise both outside and within Washington, D.C. And it marks how the political landscape has rapidly shifted for computer and Internet companies, with Washington nonentities of just a few years ago now ranking among the most prominent players in the capital.

February 8, 2011 | Many bona fide news organizations have conflict-of-interest rules that prohibit employees from making financial contributions to politicians. But such rules in the world of cable news have become murkier -- even for programs who market "fake news," as the Daily Show has defined its product. And fake or not, the Daily Show, which routinely interviews powerful politicians, is viewed by many Americans as a legitimate news source.

February 4, 2011 | The nation's financial malaise is finally catching up to K Street, where federal lobbying activity plateaued for the first time in a decade, the Center for Responsive Politics' research indicates. After a record $3.49 billion in lobbying spending in 2009, lobbying expenditures in 2010 by corporations, unions, trade associations, universities and other organizations will, at most, eclipse that amount by the narrowest of margins.

January 25, 2011 | CORPORATE CASH FLOWS TO TOP REPUBLICANS: "The new Republican leaders in the House have received millions of dollars in contributions from banks, health insurers and other major business interests, which are pressing for broad reversals of Democratic policies that affect corporations," Dan Eggen and T.W. Farnam of the Washigton Post wrote in a recent article that cites data from the Center for Responsive Politics.

January 21, 2011 | The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the perennial No. 1 top spender on lobbying and a vocal opponent of many of the Obama administration's top legislative priorities, once again ended the year with a lobbying surge.

January 18, 2011 | After his failed U.S. Senate bid, Florida Republican-turned-independent Charlie Crist has joined the law firm Morgan and Morgan, his top campaign contributor. Morgan and Morgan employees gave Crist more than $98,000 during his run for Senate, according to research by the Center for Responsive Politics.

January 3, 2011 | I was first elected to Congress in 1986 and haven't lost a re-election bid since. Previously, I worked in the Office of Management and Budget under President Ronald Reagan. Over my congressional career, I've filled my campaign coffers with more than $10.5 million. During the 2010 election cycle, I was also the No. 1 beneficiary among House members of the waste management industry. Who am I?

December 22, 2010 | All told, $185,908 can buy you twelve days of access to everything from drummers to pear trees. And while giving your true love every item in the "12 Days of Christmas" song may cost a pretty penny, keep them on retainer every day of the year costs even more. The cost of the 12 firms and organizations advocating for these gifts so far this year has been $12.4 million, by the Center's calculations.

December 2, 2010 | Reps. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and John Boehner (R-Ohio) lawmakers have been in Congress for at least two decades, and have plenty influence to show for it. Political watchers are prepared for the rivals -- their positions switched -- to resume their sparring in January. OpenSecrets Blog, meanwhile, details who may have the key political advantages as the curtain opens on the 112th Congress.

November 30, 2010 | The years leading up to the 2010 midterm election have been an important stretch for gay rights advocates, but you wouldn't necessarily know it by gauging the amount of money invested this cycle by gay and lesbian rights groups and their donors.

November 22, 2010 | The Blue Dogs have elevated Reps. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.), John Barrow (D-Ga.) and Mike Ross (D-Ark.) as their new leaders. Which donors and special interests have these men relied upon to fill their war chests?

November 19, 2010 | MSNBC's newest suspension victim is former Congressman Joe Scarborough (R-Fla.), the current co-host of the network's "Morning Joe" program. Scarborough's recent political contributions build upon a history of giving to Republican candidates.

November 18, 2010 | After losing more than 60 seats in the U.S. House, some Democrats balked at re-electing Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) as their caucus' top dog. Former Washington Redskins quarterback and Blue Dog Rep. Heath Shuler went so far as to run against Pelosi, who has funneled $28,000 to Shuler over the years.

November 18, 2010 | Despite expending massive sums of money, some of the industries most active in lobbying the 111th Congress slowed their spending during this year's third quarter in the face of the midterm elections and a changing political tide, according to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis of federal data.

November 17, 2010 | Despite a stubbornly sour national economy congressional members' personal wealth collectively increased by more than 16 percent between 2008 and 2009, according to a new study by the Center for Responsive Politics of federal financial disclosures released earlier this year.

November 10, 2010 | Imagine that every member of Congress represents the industry or special interests that have contributed the most to his or her campaign coffers. Which industries and special interests, then, lost or won seats in Congress during the 2010 midterm election?

November 9, 2010 | JPMorgan Chase, the $2 trillion bank and financial services firm, predicts that the newly Republican-controlled U.S. House will clash with the still-Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate to the point where progress on large legislation is completely halted, according to a confidential memorandum dated Nov. 3 and obtained by OpenSecrets Blog.

November 4, 2010 | Republicans' 60-seat surge during Tuesday's midterm election included replacing the seats of three longtime committee chairmen with almost a century of experience in Congress between them.

November 2, 2010 | In districts currently represented by a Blue Dog, nearly one-in-five of the Democratic candidates have been out-raised, have been out-spent or ended the last reporting period with less cash on hand than their Republican opponents, a Center for Responsive Politics review of campaign finance records shows.

November 1, 2010 | With Election Day looming for the most expensive midterm election cycle in history, this week's PolitiQuizz asks you to take a look back at what it cost, on average, to win a seat in Congress in 2006 – the most expensive midterm cycle ever prior to 2010.

October 28, 2010 | According to a recent report by the Wesleyan Media Project, in 2010, "pro-Democratic ads focused on the personal characteristics of Republican candidates in 21 percent of their attack ads

October 27, 2010 | The Illinois-based company that manufactured the dispersants used by BP after the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico spent exponentially more on federal lobbying in the disaster's wake than it has historically.

October 25, 2010 | Various conservative straw polls from this year have put Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich on top as voter favorites. Although primaries don't begin for another 16 months, potential candidates are already laying groundwork for possible presidential runs.
In the meantime, OpenSecrets Blog explores the financial activities during the 2009-2010 election cycle of the politicos who are angling to challenge President Barack Obama in the next presidential election.

October 21, 2010 | Reports covering all federal lobbying activities performed between July and September were filed with the House and Senate Wednesday, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce -- one of the most vocal opponents of the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats -- continues to shell out tens of millions of dollars for lobbying expenditures.

October 21, 2010 | In just seven months, American Crossroads, the highest profile conservative "Super PAC," has raised more than $24.17 million* in the hopes of tilting the November midterm elections in favor of the Republican Party.

October 20, 2010 | In the run up to the 2010 midterm elections, Soros joins a handful of young, emerging political heavyweights, many of whom are related to other prolific political donors. And they're helping tip the scales toward Democrats in the competition for students' campaign cash, the Center's analysis indicates.

October 12, 2010 | Quick -- which "industry" has spent the most on the 2010 midterm elections? A cool $51 million from health professionals? Chump change. Maybe the $61 million from big banks? Not even close. Retired individuals have already spent more than $98 million on federal elections this cycle...

October 8, 2010 | The campaign season is coming to the home stretch. With 25 days until voting day, one can bet political groups will throw all the cash they have running advertisements to help their favorite candidates

October 7, 2010 | Thirteen Tea Party-backed Republicans want the U.S. Senate to experience a new brand of political brew after November 2. The question isn't whether they will or won't, but rather, how many of them will be in office? And donations from people making modest campaign contributions appear poised to play an integral role in propelling them into office.

October 6, 2010 | Most political candidates raise their campaign cash in conventional ways: Calling voters, wooing donors, knocking on doors, and lately, collecting online donations. Or, a political hopeful can own a professional basketball team, make billions of dollars through credit default swaps or serve as chief executive of a wrestling entertainment empire.

October 5, 2010 | Maybe these unlucky candidates face a well-funded incumbent, or run in a district that doesn't align with them ideologically. Or perhaps they are just too quirky for the ballot box. Whatever the reason, these candidates face a harsh political Darwinism -- they have been judged unelectable by their affiliated party, and are effectively left to fend for themselves, come November.

October 5, 2010 | Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), a Tea Party-loving conservative who wants to shake up and remold the institution he currently calls home, stands above other lawmakers in the frontier of creative uses of leadership PACs to aide fellow candidates.

October 4, 2010 | Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Linda McMahon, who has repeatedly challenged the truthfulness of her Democratic opponent, Richard Blumenthal, has had her own problems with splitting hairs.

October 4, 2010 | Dollars spent on lobbying are set to increase over all other years if spending remains on its current course. And in context of 2010 congressional campaigns, the top lobbyist-funded House and Senate candidates have received more than $9 million to fuel their campaigns.

September 30, 2010 | This fall, Republicans need a net gain of 39 seats to win control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Some of the seats most likely to flip from the Democratic column to Republican control stem from the retirements of sitting Democratic incumbents.
And when it comes to competing for these open seats, Republicans own a financial advantage.

September 29, 2010 | Many candidates are hitting the campaign trail with a promise to end cozy relationships with special interests. Yet eager as they are to show some understanding of voters' concerns, the words of many incumbents are falling far short of the reality when it comes to their campaign accounts.

September 27, 2010 | Ahead of the November election, top 20 House beneficiaries of the people and political action committees associated with the finance, insurance and real estate sector have together collected more than $16.2 million from Wall Street interests since January 2009. Meanwhile, the Senate candidates and sitting senators to receive the most from Wall Street interests raked in more than $41.3 million since January 2005 -- the beginning of their six-year election cycle.

September 23, 2010 | Your daily dose of news and tidbits from the world of money in politics:
GAY RIGHTS CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS DOWN IN CONTENTIOUS YEAR: Gay and lesbian advocacy groups have had a chaotic week. Gay rights advocates won big Wednesday with Florida overturning a ban on gay adoption for infringement of Constitutional rights. But on Tuesday, despite Lady Gaga's best efforts, a Republican filibuster blocked the Senate from repealing the "don't ask, don't tell" ban on gay military members serving openly.

September 16, 2010 | The first lady's chief of staff. A top government official in charge of fair housing. A senior staffer at the Education Department. These three people share a common distinction: Not only did they each work as registered lobbyists prior to joining the Obama administration last year, but they were never officially deregistered as lobbyists before taking on their new jobs, a Center for Responsive Politics review of lobbying disclosure reports filed with the House and Senate indicates.

September 15, 2010 | SWEET NEW NAME FOR CORN SYRUP?: The agribusiness industry is hoping a name change can help turn around public perception about a sweet-tasting product: high-fructose corn syrup. The Washington-based Corn Refiners Association is asking the Food and Drug Administration for permission to change the name of often vilified sweetener to "corn sugar."

September 14, 2010 | No fewer than 235 people that identified themselves on government documents as journalists, or as working for news organizations, have together donated more than $469,900 to federal political candidates, committees and parties during the 2010 election cycle, a Center for Responsive Politics analysis indicates. Aboute two-thirds of this sum has benefited Democrats.

September 7, 2010 | Google and Verizon are coming under some scrutiny for the suggestion that they may make their users' pages load quicker than those visited on other web providers. Or, in nerd talk: They're threatening net neutrality, a cherished rule in the Internet kingdom.

September 5, 2010 | After many moons of financial second-fiddledom, national Democratic political committees find their fortunes waxing during the final weeks before crucial midterm elections in which Republicans hope to recapture numerous congressional seats.

September 3, 2010 | TEA PARTY, NRA GET BOOSTS FROM CHUCK NORRIS: Action movie star and conservative activist Chuck Norris badly wants you to vote this November. Norris stars in a new ad for the National Rifle Association as part of the group's "Trigger the Vote" campaign.

August 30, 2010 | Companies that are known for giving us our much-needed caffeine fix have also been known to spend big in politics. In this week's PolitiQuizz, OpenSecrets Blog wants you to investigate the pocketbooks of the political side of your beverage.

August 23, 2010 | With significant majorities in Congress, a president promising action and favorable public opinion all on their side, many environmentalists believed their political stars had properly – and finally – aligned. Yet even as these groups seemed poised to capitalize on favorable trends, moneyed opponents girded for a fight with more financial capital than ever before.

August 11, 2010 | Donors giving $200 or less helped propel anti-establishment challengers in both the Republican and Democratic U.S. Senate primaries in Colorado, where voters Tuesday backed a conservative Republican favored by many Tea Party activists and nearly ousted the third incumbent senator this year.

August 10, 2010 | Several of the players on President Barack Obama's basketball party dream team made sizable contributions to his presidential campaign and/or related Democratic political committees, the Center for Responsive Politics finds.

July 31, 2010 | More than 11,100 corporations, trade associations, unions and other groups hired 10,500 lobbyists during the second quarter, the Center for Responsive Politics has found -- outnumbering members of Congress roughly 20 to 1. Overall, special interest groups spent more than $852 million on lobbying between April and June.

July 30, 2010 | A Center for Responsive Politics analysis shows that the biggest contributors to the 49 members of the newly-established congressional Tea Party caucus -- it so far includes only Republican -- are health professionals, retired individuals, the real estate industry and oil and gas interests.
Furthermore, donations from health professionals, oil and gas interests and Republican and conservative groups are, on average, higher for Tea Party caucus members than for members of the House of Representatives in general and even their fellow House Republicans.

July 30, 2010 | The nation's highest-profile advocate against the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy is using a full arsenal of tactics in his bid to lobby it to death. Yet despite all the attention and flashy antics, Army Lt. Dan Choi has been coy about utilizing a traditional tool of Washington influence: campaign contributions.

July 29, 2010 | While some organizations dramatically reduced their investments in federal lobbying during this year's second quarter, others paid out more in fees to lobbyists than during any other quarter since President Barack Obama took office in January 2009, according to a Center for Responsive Politics review of reports filed with the U.S. Senate and U.S. House last week.

July 28, 2010 | Ex-Regulators to Lobby on New Finance Rules: Hundreds of ex-financial regulators are gearing up to lobby the regulatory agencies that will create hundreds of new rules for the nation's bank on behalf of corporate clients, the New York Times reports.

July 27, 2010 | A Scout's motto is "be prepared" -- and in Washington, D.C., scouting organizations stay prepared with the help of hired lobbyists. Last year, the Girl Scouts reported $199,000 in lobbying expenses, including fees to a firm run by a former member of Congress, while the Boy Scouts paid out $180,000 to a firm that also represents a tobacco company and a foreign government.

July 22, 2010 | The lobbying powerhouse U.S. Chamber of Commerce, along with its subsidiaries, spent a whopping $13.4 million on federal, state-level and grassroots lobbying during the second quarter, according to a Center for Responsive Politics review of new reports filed this week.

July 22, 2010 | House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), a long-time smoker, had stated his intentions to quit smoking in an effort to encourage a friend to do the same. Curious development since Boehner is one of big tobacco's favorite politicos.

July 21, 2010 | That's because in the closest races for U.S. House seats, Democrats overall have out-raised their Republican opponents by huge sums: In 29 toss-up races, Democratic candidates had more than $31 million in cash on hand at the end of the second quarter, a Center for Responsive Politics analysis indicates.The Republicans in these contests had raised $17.9 million.

July 21, 2010 | Although Pullen has already filed amended reports, possible fines could put a dent in the RNC's war chest as the midterm elections approach. The RNC has also retained former FEC chairman Michael Toner as outside counsel. Toner has a history as a lobbyist and counsel to Republican campaigns, in addition to his six year stint at the FEC.

July 20, 2010 | Last Thursday, Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Ohio) introduced H.R. 5751, the Fee on Lobbyists Act, which would require lobbyists to pay an annual fee of $25 to the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives and $25 to the Secretary of the U.S. Senate for each client they have. Money raised would be used by to enforce the rules regarding federal lobbyists.

July 16, 2010 | Liz Fowler, a Senate staffer who helped write the Democrat's landmark health care reform legislation after serving as a health insurance industry executive, is now moving up to help implement the new law. But her appointment has drawn outrage from liberal bloggers and activists who call it an unacceptable example of industry influencing policy and a violation of Obama's promise to end the revolving door between the lobbying industry and the government.

July 14, 2010 | A negative FDA ruling will likely affect the bottom line of a company that spent $8.7 million on federal lobbying in 2009 and has already spent $2.2 million in the first quarter of this year. GlaxoSmithKline, the drug's manufacturer, has much more than that at stake. It earned $1.1 billion from the drug in 2009, Fortune reports.

July 14, 2010 | One of the most powerful lobbying groups, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), announced on Tuesday that Business Roundtable President John Castellani will become the group's new leader. According to a Center for Responsive Politics review of campaign finance records, Castellani, along with his wife, has given $65,400 to federal candidates, parties and committees since 1994, with 84 percent of that sum benefiting Republicans.

July 12, 2010 | Feel like you're going in circles? Maybe you should check out OpenSecrets.org's revolving door database, where we endeavor to track the continuous loop made by government employees and lobbyists.

July 6, 2010 | Not only does OpenSecrets.org keep track of the individual companies and organizations lobbying the federal government, but we also keep track of the lobbying numbers of entire industries. Some of the top industries lobbying congress include oil and gas, electric utilities, and the education industries.

July 2, 2010 | Take a little national health care reform, mix it with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and add a jobs bill. It's proving to be a recipe for state and local governments -- some of which are running massive budget deficits -- to spend near-record levels of money hiring professional lobbyists in a bid for federal aid.

June 23, 2010 | Hearings to set to begin Thursday in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, led by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), will shine more light on the ongoing squabble with the Department of Education over issues like incentive pay to recruiters and gainful employment measures. But Congress is just catching up to industry lobbyists on many of the issues.

June 15, 2010 | If Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-N.C.) ultimately finds himself crosswise with the law after last week roughing up a self-described student journalist on a Washington, D.C., street, he'll also face this political curiosity: the American Association for Justice is his single greatest career campaign donor, a Center for Responsive Politics analysis indicates.

June 11, 2010 | The university continues to lobby the federal government as it tightens its belt. UNC spent $100,000 on its federal lobbying efforts in the first quarter of 2010, putting it on pace to nearly match its lobbying expenditures in 2008, when the school spent $450,000 on lobbying, the most in its history.

June 9, 2010 | The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing in Los Angeles Monday to discuss the effect of a proposed merger between Comcast and NBC Universal. During the course of the hearing, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif) seemed to indicate representatives of Comcast made vague, but inappropriate and potentially illegal offers to her.

June 2, 2010 | BIRTH CONTROL COSTS: Should health insurance companies be required to cover the cost of birth control pills? Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) and Planned Parenthood are among those who think so.

May 28, 2010 | During the first quarter of 2010, only a handful of organizations reported lobbying on the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy regarding gays in the military, according to a Center for Responsive Politics review of lobbying reports that explicitly mentioned this measure. Most of the groups identified by the Center supported a repeal of the policy.

May 26, 2010 | A POTATO FLAVORED TEA PARTY: On Tuesday, Republicans from the 1st Congressional District in Idaho chose state Rep. Raul Labrador as their candidate in the general election. Labrador defeated Vaughn Ward even though Labrador entered the race late and also faced a significant monetary disadvantage.

May 18, 2010 | Reps. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) don't agree on health care reform. They don't agree on energy legislation, nor do they agree on immigration. Politically, they may not agree on much at all. However, they do share one distinction. Both have received nearly two-thirds of their campaign contributions from donors who contribute $200 or less, the Federal Election Commission's threshold for itemized disclosure. By comparison, the average House member only received 7 percent of their contributions from such "small donors."

May 13, 2010 | Votes are already being cast in the free-for-all special election in Hawaii's 1st Congressional District, and a Republican candidate has emerged with the most cash on hand in the campaign's final stretch. Republican Charles Djou, a city council member in Honolulu, has nearly $170,000 more in the bank than the most well-financed Democratic candidate.

May 12, 2010 | Upon her arrival in the White House, first lady Michelle Obama launched the "Let's Move" campaign, encouraging healthier eating habits and reduced obesity rates -- a campaign for which she formally unveiled the goals Tuesday. Yet as the first lady and lawmakers work to enact these goals, they must navigate substantial corporate interests when making decisions about the strictness of regulations and standards for nutrition.

May 12, 2010 | ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST: Fourteen-term Democratic Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-W.V.), who has been named one of the most corrupt members of Congress by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), was defeated in a primary challenge yesterday. Mollohan becomes the second congressional incumbent to be ousted in intra-party fights in four days.

May 11, 2010 | WISCONSIN DEMS CHOOSE OBEY SUCCESSOR: The announcement of long-serving Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.) last week that he would retire at the end of his term was the latest blow to congressional Democrats already facing a tough midterm landscape. Now, the Wisconsin Democratic Party has announced that state senator Julie Lassa will be the chosen candidate to defend Obey's seat.

May 5, 2010 | The loss of Obey, the powerful chairman of the House Appropriations Committee and a close ally of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is a blow to Democrats in a year when anti-incumbent sentiment seems to be on the rise. The Appropriations chairmanship is one of the most powerful positions in Congress, and Obey's retirement may kick off a fierce fight between potential successors.

May 5, 2010 | Both the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee have programs to help fund and support vulnerable incumbents. The DCCC runs the "Frontline Program" and the NRCC the "Patriot Program," and the increased financial support facilitated by these programs may be a determining factor in these candidates' success at the polls. So far this cycle, the average House Democrat participating in such a program took in took in nearly $600,000 more than the average non-assisted House member, and the average NRCC-assisted Republican collected about $200,000 above the non-assisted House average.

May 5, 2010 | "Drill baby, drill" or "dead on arrival"? As clean-up crews battle the sprawling effects of last week's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, politicians and advocacy groups are already speculating how this oil rig accident and resulting environmental disaster will impact the politics of American offshore drilling.

May 3, 2010 | The 90210 zip code is also awfully significant politically, home to plenty of insanely rich folks who really, really like showering their bling on Democrats in particular. We ask: How significant?

April 30, 2010 | As the Center for Responsive Politics on Thursday released a detailed report on federal lobbying activity during this year's first quarter, one particular statistic kept flashing like strobe lights at a streaking stunt: 3,785 percent.

April 29, 2010 | Hoards of hired K Street guns are in high demand as President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats seek to implement grand legislative plans. And a Center for Responsive Politics review of recently filed lobbying reports indicates companies, trade associations, unions and other groups spent nearly $1 billion on lobbying during the first three months of 2010.

April 27, 2010 | Hundreds of lobbyists are primed to swarm Capitol Hill to advocate on behalf of a wide variety of business interests and ideological groups, all of which have a stake in immigration reform policy – Congress' focus du jour.

April 22, 2010 | With some of the most expensive ticket prices in sports, a television audience that reaches millions, and -- yes -- its own reality television show, Ultimate Fighting Championship is captivating a new generation of sports fans. But in addition to waging battles atop caged, octagonal fighting canvasses, the wildly popular organization is also grappling with politicos on Capitol Hill.

April 22, 2010 | Freshman Rep. Joseph Cao (R-La.) is one of just three House Republicans bucking their party leadership by offering appropriation requests for fiscal year 2011. Cao's requests -- better known as earmarks -- total about $517 million, of which $800,000 would be destined for two projects at a hospital in New Orleans. While that's itself a small slice of Cao's total requests, it's notable since Cao also accepted campaign contributions from two of its executives.

April 21, 2010 | As President Barack Obama works with the Democratic Congress to advance his ambitious legislative priorities, lobbying efforts by special interest groups continue unabated. Lobbying reports for the first three months of 2010 were due to the Clerk of the House and Secretary of the Senate by midnight last night, and a preliminary Center for Responsive Politics analysis of these reports show many major players continuing to shell out big dollars on their lobbying operations.

April 21, 2010 | While the Securities and Exchange Commission endeavors to whack Goldman Sachs for alleged fraud, it's worth noting that another government entity -- Congress -- is deeply invested in the company. Quite literally.

April 20, 2010 | Goldman Sachs has plenty of lawyers. And it also employs a number of powerful lobbyists, too, to help make its case before a federal government that may be a little less inclined to be chummy with it than it was, oh, a week ago. Hence, our PolitiQuizz question to you this week.

April 19, 2010 | Who knew the Formaldehyde Council was a K street regular? For the past 10 years, the Environmental Protection Agency has been trying to change the classification of formaldehyde from a "probable" to a "known" carcinogen. However, the agency has encountered relentless opposition throughout the process.

April 16, 2010 | After one of the most grueling political battles in recent history, health care reform still won't go away. According to the Los Angeles Times, the historic passage of health care reform has become a rallying cry for Democratic fund-raisers, particularly President Barack Obama, who has recently touted the victory at dinners where attendance can run as high as $30,000 a table.

April 13, 2010 | FOCUS RETURNS TO FINANCIAL REFORM: Delivering reform to the financial sector remains a crucial goal for the Obama administration as well as Senate Banking Committee Chairman, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), who faces a renewed lobbying campaign by banks and financial institutions hoping to shape the eventual legislation to their liking.

April 8, 2010 | The cost of the 2010 election cycle is on pace to break the record for a midterm election, set during the 2006 cycle. And across the board, Democrats, who now control the White House and both chambers of Congress, are on the receiving end of far more campaign cash than they were four years ago, according to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis.

April 8, 2010 | Recent filings with the Federal Election Commission show Murtha's leadership PAC is still active in donating cash to Democratic campaigns. Majority PAC also cut a notable $10,000 check to the campaign of Mark Critz, Murtha's former district director...

April 7, 2010 | Our friends over at the National Institute on Money in State Politics have released their final report on the money in state-level elections in 2007 and 2008. For the first time in history, candidates for state legislatures collectively raised more than $1 billion -- an increase of 9 percent from the 2006 election cycle, and an increase of 26 percent from the 2004 election cycle.

April 5, 2010 | Both the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee love them some money -- insert bondage-themed-strip-club joke here. And with all this money loving going on, we thought it apropos to pose this PolitiQuizz question to you:

April 5, 2010 | So, no. A giant, basket-toting rabbit doesn't formally lobby the federal government. Nor does the International Amalgamated Lily Growers Union or the U.S. Consortium of Fluffy Chicks. But close.

April 2, 2010 | Today, the Center for Responsive Politics' list of the top-spending corporations and special interest groups peppering politicians with overwhelming amounts of money in hope of influencing the political process just got bigger.

March 31, 2010 | In the hotly contested special election that sent Republican Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate, Brown and his opponent, Democrat Martha Coakley, squeezed their fund-raising efforts into a rapid scramble for money that lasted just weeks, not months.

March 31, 2010 | As Congress debated comprehensive health care reform, health industry interests' campaign contributions tended to target Blue Dog Democrats who opposed the proposal. Blue Dog Democrats who last week voted against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590), which first passed the Senate in December, received an average of about $90,200 during 2009 from political action committees and individuals associated with the health sector and health insurers, the Center for Responsive Politics has found.

March 31, 2010 | A newly-minted federal advisory board on tobacco regulation began preliminary hearings on the issue of menthol brand cigarettes this week, the New York Times reports. The panel was created last year when Congress gave the Food and Drug Administration power to administer regulations of the tobacco industry.

March 30, 2010 | PUSHING FOR A MORE TRANSPARENT CONGRESS: With input from us here at the Center for Responsive Politcs and our friends at the Sunlight Foundation, Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) introduced new legislation to shine more sunshine on many federal records.

March 26, 2010 | PAC-ING HEAT: Former vice presidential candidate and soon-to-be reality TV star Sarah Palin has set her sights on twenty vulnerable House Democrats in the 2010 election. A post on her Facebook page earlier this week featured a map of twenty Democratically held districts in gun sights -- the political targets of her high-caliber political action committee, SarahPAC.

March 25, 2010 | As the Center for Responsive Politics celebrates Sunshine Week this year, we commend the steps taken by the White House and Congress for greater government transparency. Neither the White House nor Congress, though, should rest on their laurels. Despite the good progress made via some specific steps, there remains much to be done. Here are a several matters that require attention this year.

March 23, 2010 | One of the lawmakers President Barack Obama's executive order won over was Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), who led a bipartisan fight in November to include stricter anti-abortion language in the House's version of the health reform legislation. By the Center for Responsive Politics' tally, Stupak is the only Democratic incumbent in the House to receive any money from special interest groups that oppose abortion so far this election cycle -- with a $500 contribution coming from the Right to Life of Michigan PAC.

March 23, 2010 | HEALTH CARE LOOMS OVER MIDTERMS: Today, President Obama will sign the comprehensive health care reform bill passed by the House on Sunday, and the Senate will began considering the associated reconciliation bill. With the main bill passed, many groups have now turned their attention to how it will affect the midterm elections in November.

March 22, 2010 | President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats achieved a major legislative victory last night as members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted to adopt the version of health insurance reform legislation passed in December by the U.S. Senate. Supporters of both measures received out-sized support from labor unions, the Center for
Responsive Politics found, based on an examination of contributions to lawmakers'
campaign committees and leadership PACs going back to 1989.

March 22, 2010 | Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) is a staunch conservative in a solidly Republican congressional district. But based on the financial support Neugebauer has received from special interest groups that oppose abortion rights, he seems an unlikely source for the utterance "baby killer!" Sunday night as the U.S. House of Representatives prepared to approve sweeping health care reform legislation.

March 19, 2010 | Time has rarely been an ally of President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats seeking to enact comprehensive health insurance reform. And the longer they took, the larger the army of special interest lobbyists grew. By the end of the fourth quarter when both the House and the Senate adopted versions of the bill, the number of clients had increased by nearly 300 percent, the Center for Responsive Politics found.

March 19, 2010 | Two recent articles in Politico highlight the precarious position in which Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) now finds himself as a result of his opposition to health care reform legislation that's primed for a vote Sunday.

March 17, 2010 | WIFE OF SUPREME COURT JUSTICE AIMS TO GAIN FROM CITIZENS UNITED: The Supreme Court shook up the world of money-in-politics when it opened the doors to increased corporate spending in the case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

March 3, 2010 | CHARLIE RANGEL TO VACATE CHAIRMANSHIP: Today, at 9 a.m., Rangel announced that he would temporarily step down from this leadership role until the House Ethics Committee completes its investigation of his allegedly unethical activity. This included his use of corporate funds for travel, incomplete disclosure forms regarding personal finances and failure to pay federal taxes on rental income from his villa in the Dominican Republic.

March 2, 2010 | As Democrats try not to let political turbulence slim their ranks and Republicans focus on winning back the majority, money continues to pour into campaign coffers. Big-money congressional races are often in competitive states or districts that could wind up flipping for Republican or Democratic, a Center for Responsive Politics review of campaign finance reports through the end of 2009 shows.

March 2, 2010 | U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) spent months railing against the Federal Reserve for what he considered its failure to protect consumers from abusive financial institutions. Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee who isn't seeking re-election, now appears primed to compromise on his standing desire to create an independent "Consumer Financial Protection Agency" designed to protect consumer interests.

March 1, 2010 | It came with, perhaps, an overabundance in interest in learning Sunday night that President Barack Obama will this week ship a case of Molson Canadian to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper -- the spoils of a bet lost on the United States v. Canada Olympic hockey gold medal finals.

February 25, 2010 | HCR SUMMIT: At 10 o'clock this morning, President Barack Obama is convening a bipartisan summit at Blair House, across the street from the White House, to discuss health insurance reform. The televised six-hour meeting will include Democratic and Republican leaders from Congress, as well as officials like Vice President Joe Biden and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

February 24, 2010 | What do AT&T, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, the Teamsters Union, U.S. Steel, Lowe's, the NAACP, the Colorado Farm Bureau and the City of St. Louis all have in common? Give up? They're part of the motley crew of fewer than three-dozen entities that reported lobbying specifically on the "public option" last year.

February 24, 2010 | Whether it was health care reform, cap and trade climate proposals or financial regulatory reform, Blue Dog Democrats were often at the center of Congress' top legislative fights. This caucus of 54 moderate and conservative House Democrats was also at the center of political fund-raising in 2009, the Center for Responsive Politics has found.

February 22, 2010 | WHITE HOUSE, REPUBLICANS READY FOR HEALTH CARE SHOWDOWN: President Barack Obama is slated to today release text of a broad "starting point" for a televised health care reform summit later this week with congressional Republicans. Any good reason to think that lobbyists won't be hard at work, too, as politicians attempt to restart all-but-dormant reform efforts?

February 16, 2010 | J.D. Hayworth's Republican primary challenge to Sen. John McCain will be a difficult and expensive endeavor. McCain benefits from a war chest of more than $27 million as well as a host of Republicans both young -- Sarah Palin, Scott Brown -- and veteran -- Dick Armey, Grover Norquist -- ready to campaign on his behalf.

February 16, 2010 | Federal lobbying soared to a record $3.5 billion last year, as lawmakers clocked long hours and worked at a pace to be, in the opinion of one congressional scholar, the most productive Congress in decades. This translates to approximately $1.3 million spent on lobbying for every hour that Congress was in session in 2009, the Center for Responsive Politics has found.

February 13, 2010 | With the 2010 Winter Olympics having commenced this weekend in Vancouver, politics are hardly a focus of competition waged not in governmental halls, but on hillsides, tracks and skating surfaces. Once upon an Olympic prelude, however, the International Olympic Committee, tasked then with coordinating the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, vaulted into the rarified eshelon of million dollar federal lobbying forces, a Center for Responsive Politics analysis indicates

February 12, 2010 | This week has seen a string of high-profile retirements in Washington D.C., including Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.), Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) and lobbyist Billy Tauzin, the president of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). In addition, last month Rep. Steve Buyer (R-Ind.) announced his retirement under allegations of ethics transgressions. To cap the week off, Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.), son of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, announced today in a video on his website that he would not seek re-election after 16 years in the U.S. House.

February 12, 2010 | The economy stunk. Corporations slashed jobs. And some firms, once juggernauts of American industry, simply ceased to exist. But for federal lobbyists, 2009 proved to be a year of riches unlike any other, a Center for Responsive Politics analysis indicates.

February 8, 2010 | Since Washington, D.C., today is covered by nearly three feet of white stuff, and the city is effectively shut down, who better to highlight for this week's PolitiQuizz than Sen. Olympia Snowe?

February 5, 2010 | Government watchdog and environmentalist groups are accusing William Magwood, President Barack Obama's nomineee to the independent Nuclear Regulatory Commission, of conflicts of interest that may complicate his appointment. Magwood faces aconfirmation hearing Tuesday before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, where lawmakers will question him on whether he's fit to serve on the commission, which is tasked with protecting public health, safety and the environment where nuclear energy issues are concerned.

February 3, 2010 | With the campaign finance world still trying to sort out the aftermath of Citizens United v. FEC, Marc Ambinder over at The Atlantic makes an interesting observation about the potential for corporate spending to surpass that of political parties.

February 2, 2010 | The women's issues lobby, which consists of individuals and organizations committed to promoting women's rights and interests, contributed $352,000 to John Edwards' presidential campaign during the 2008 election cycle, according to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis.

February 1, 2010 | In a scene more reminiscent of the United Kingdom's Prime Minister's Questions session, the Right Honourable President Barack Obama traveled to Baltimore to -- wait for it -- serve as the featured speaker at a retreat for Republican House of Representative members.

January 29, 2010 | Embattled Rep. Steve Buyer (R-Ind.) announced at a press conference today that he would not seek re-election. Buyer, first elected to the U.S. House in 1992, comes from a heavily Republican district and was expected to easily win re-election.

January 28, 2010 | More than 15,600 companies and organizations spent at least $3.2 billion on federal lobbying in 2009, the Center for Responsive Politics has found, based on a preliminary analysis of lobbying data filed with the U.S. Senate.

January 28, 2010 | President Barack Obama, standing before a full session of Congress within the U.S. Capitol, accused the U.S. Supreme Court of opening "the floodgates for special interests -- including foreign corporations" through its 5-4 ruling last week in the case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. A visably agitated Justice Samuel Alito, sitting just feet away from Obama as he delivered the presidential State of the Union address, shook his head, made a face and appeared to mouth "simply not true."

January 27, 2010 | The past year proved to be a legislative whirlwind in Washington, with a new administration, and expanded Democratic majorities in Congress, tackling an ambitious legislative agenda against the backdrop of two wars and an economic meltdown. Twelve months later, the story is much the same.

January 27, 2010 | ANTI-ACORN ACTIVIST ARRESTED IN FAILED ATTEMPT TO WIRETAP SENATOR: Conservative activist and filmmaker James O'Keefe and three others were arrested Monday during a failed attempt to wiretap the New Orleans office of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported. The four men apparently posed as utility repairmen.

January 26, 2010 | OBAMA MAY ADDRESS DADT IN SOTU: Senate Armed Forces Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) announced Monday that he would postpone a hearing slated for this week on the military's controversial "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy. News outlets are now reporting that Levin was asked to postpone the hearing until after President Obama's State of the Union address on Wednesday, so that Obama could weigh in on the subject.

January 21, 2010 | Corporations, trade associations, unions and nonprofit groups still aren't allowed to make direct contributions to federal politicians, but today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that such groups may now spend unlimited amounts of money advocating for or against politicians. In doing do, the Supreme Court, led by Justice Anthony Kennedy, tossed out the distinction between individuals and corporations and their ilk when it comes to independent expenditures.

January 20, 2010 | On Tuesday, the voters of Massachusetts elected Republican Scott Brown in a special U.S. Senate election, defeating Democrat Martha Coakley. In a state where every representative to the U.S. House is a Democrat, Brown's victory is a shocking win....

January 16, 2010 | Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Ron Paul made waves during the 2008 presidential election for the large sums they raised from people making small contributions of $200 or less. On Thursday, four prominent campaign finance reform advocates said fostering this small-donor enthusiasm was vital to the country's political health.

January 14, 2010 | FORD DONATED TO CAMPAIGN HE NOW SEEKS TO DEFEAT: Former Rep. Harold Ford (D-Tenn.), who once headed the Democratic Leadership Council and lost a 2006 bid for U.S. Senate, has been making waves for his public comments regarding a potential Senate bid against incumbent Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.). But back in June, Ford himself contributed $1,000 to Gillibrand's war chest.

January 13, 2010 | WHY WOULD REPUBLICAN LINDA MCMAHON DONATE TO DEMS? Listen to the U.S. Senate candidate herself explain after being asked the question at a voter forum in Connecticut, where the former wrestling boss is running for the seat being vacated by Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.). And make sure to read our coverage of McMahon's ties to the Democratic party.

January 12, 2010 | FINAL COUNTDOWN IN MA: Conservative grassroots supporters came out in full force on Monday to support the candidacy of Republican Scott Brown, who is vying to fill the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.). Brown is facing off against Democratic Attorney General Martha Coakley in a special election next Tuesday, January 19. His campaign reportedly raised $1.3 million on Monday.

January 9, 2010 | Audacious, perhaps, is the development that the president of the United States would schedule his State of the Union address around a television show. But in doing precisely that for the premier of ABC's hit series "Lost," President Barack Obama is also yielding to one of the most powerful federal lobbying forces in U.S. business: ABC parent company Walt Disney Co.

December 24, 2009 | Senators who opposed the health insurance reform bill passed on Christmas Eve received an average of nearly 30 percent more political donations from political action committees and individual employees of health and health insurance-related groups and companies since 1989, a Center for Responsive Politics analysis has found.

December 24, 2009 | Here at the Center for Responsive Politics, we wish you the happiest of holiday seasons. And in doing so, the Center's staff is itself off for a long winter's vacation: We'll be closed until Monday, January 4.

December 23, 2009 | 'TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE A CHRISTMAS EVE SHOWDOWN: Yes, the Senate is preparing to vote on a health care reform bill Thursday, on Christmas Eve. Members have been engaged in a flurry of legislative back-and-forth, seemingly incapable of much beside the task at hand, particularly considering that they'll likely spend Christmas itself in Washington, D.C. But alas, this hasn't stopped two senators from opposite ends of the political spectrum from penning a pair of dueling 'Twas the Night Before Christmas spoofs.

December 21, 2009 | This week's PolitiQuizz targets a veteran member of Congress who's buddies with doctors -- you know, those folks save lives, treat illnesses and have spent tens of millions of dollars this year lobbying the federal government on health care reform.

December 19, 2009 | An army of congressional insiders -- from former aides and top staffers to ex-congressmen themselves -- have registered as lobbyists to represented hundreds of health care clients fight federal reform, a new report by the Tribune Newspapers Washington Bureau, Medill News Service and Center for Responsive Politics indicates.

December 17, 2009 | House Resolution 390 will not result in troop deployments to Afghanistan, an overhaul of the U.S. health care system or the bolstering of an economy in tatters. But because it advocates a new college football playoff format, the legislation, in the minds of millions of fans and at least a few congressional members, is all the same a matter of national import.

December 17, 2009 | IS THAT THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL -- OR ANOTHER TRAIN? The health care marathon continued this week as senators took on pharmaceutical product pricing. On Tuesday night, two amendments were brought to a vote bringing up the possibility of buying prescription drugs from other industrialized nations who generally can offer cheaper prices.

December 16, 2009 | JUST SAY NO TO (CANADIAN) DRUGS: Drug makers spending a bazillion dollars to lobby the federal government? Shocker! The pharmaceutical and health products industry is only the year's top industry, in terms of lobbying dollars spent, among the 121 different industries we track.

December 15, 2009 | OBAMA & WALL STREET FAT CATS: As Congress pushes through legislation aimed at reforming Wall Street and regulating risky trading products, President Barack Obama is pushing the top executives to get on board with new changes to their industry and increase lending to small businesses.

December 14, 2009 | ILLINOIS POLITICS STILL AN ETHICS BACKWATER, SEVERAL STATE CANDIDATES ARGUE: Gubernatorial candidates in Illinois -- a state notorious for electing governors who end up in prison -- say politicos attempts at governmental reform are too weak.

December 11, 2009 | Using data from the Center for Responsive Politics, the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog reports, "34 members of the U.S. House of Representatives that offered amendments to weaken consumer protections in the House financial reform package received $3.8 million in campaign contributions from the financial sector in 2009, an average of $111,000 each."

December 9, 2009 | As the U.S. Senate weighs contentious changes to federal abortion policy, the Center for Responsive Politics has also found that pro-choice interests have given sitting senators roughly six times as much as pro-life interests have contributed to them. CRP has further found that senators who voted in favor of tabling an anti-abortion amendment offered by Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) received an average of nearly $60,000 from abortion rights supporters and an average of just $80 from anti-abortion interests over the past 20 years.

December 9, 2009 | In a special primary election yesterday, voters in Massachusetts selected Attorney General Martha Coakley to be the Democratic nominee and State Senator Scott Brown to be the Republican nominee to face off next month and ultimately fill the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by Ted Kennedy. Coakley bested several other high-profile Democrats including Rep. Michael Capuano, businessman Alan Khazei and Stephen Pagliuca, co-owner of the Boston Celtics basketball team.

December 8, 2009 | MAJOR SUPREME COURT CASE DECISION TODAY? Rumors abound here in Washington that today's the day the U.S. Supreme Court hands down its decision on Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission -- a case that has the potential to notably change campaign finance laws at the federal level.

December 4, 2009 | HEALTH LOBBYING HEYDAY: Why has Pfizer spent $16 million on federal lobbying since January as Congress attempts to overhaul health care? The company "wanted to make sure our voice is heard in this conversation," a Pfizer spokesman told Robert Steinbrook for an article in the New England Journal of Medicine.

December 4, 2009 | My feet would have been aflame long ago had my calling to follow the money literally required walking along that shady trail between the bank accounts of special interests and the hands of federal lawmakers. Although I'm called now to a new adventure, I walk away with the utmost conviction that CRP's work is more relevant and important now than perhaps at any other time in its 26-year history.

December 3, 2009 | Rep. John Tanner (D-Tenn.) makes the second member of the moderate Blue Dog Coalition in the last two weeks to announce that he'll be retiring at the end of his term, leaving the Blue Dogs to find new members of their pack.

December 2, 2009 | SCROOGED! LOBBYISTS PUT HOLIDAY PARTIES ON ICE: Without a windfall of cash compiled on the backs of elfin slave labor, and facing grinchy federal lobbying rules, lobbyists are axing holiday parties like a lumberjack in a forest of douglas firs.

December 1, 2009 | Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) spoke yesterday with a local radio station about his affair with an aide's wife and his role in securing a new job for the aide. During the interview, Ensign called the affair a "huge mistake" and maintained that he "complied with all Senate ethics rules and applicable laws" in helping get the aide a new job in a lobbying firm.

November 30, 2009 | Legislation aimed at regulating the securities and investment industry is as complex as the industry itself. But the trade groups representing these interests all seem to have at least one thing in common: they fear additional government regulation will damage their business, which especially concerns them given the ailing economy.

November 30, 2009 | Make sure your browser is set to House.gov this afternoon, when the U.S. House of Representatives will be moving toward transparency by making members' office expenditures available electronically.

November 23, 2009 | Thousands of U.S. companies and special interest groups attempt to influence government through campaign donations in ways never before documented, a joint project by two of the nation's premier government watchdog groups now reveals. The project, conducted by the National Institute on Money in State Politics and the Center for Responsive Politics, also provides an unprecedented resource: Profiles of these organizations' political giving patterns during the 2008 election at both the state and national level.

November 23, 2009 | Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) chairs the powerful Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. Dodd is now spearheading new efforts to tackle financial sector regulatory reform. Over the past 20 years, Dodd's most generous campaign supporter has also been the finance, insurance and real estate sector, which is filled with companies directly affected by legislation shepherded by the Banking Committee.

November 23, 2009 | The Federal Election Commission last week gave an early Christmas gift to candidates for federal office, deciding to allow Senate and presidential candidates to pay discounted prices on private air travel.

November 20, 2009 | GEOGRAPHY AWARE: Today marks the close of Geography Awareness Week. To celebrate the importance of this subject, National Geographic asked all 100 senators to draw a picture of their home state and label at least three important places. A handful of senators responded to the challenge. You can also use maps on OpenSecrets.org to track the money flowing into congressional races across the country or to find campaign contributions by state or zip code.

November 19, 2009 | Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) revealed his version of a health-care reform package last night, hoping to win over three moderate Democrats who are on the fence -- Sens. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas. All three have collected at least $1.3 million from the health care sector.

November 18, 2009 | Risk and uncertainty are as certain as death and taxes. So, to share the burden of risk and hedge against the full financial liability, companies have long offered consumers a variety of insurance products. Facing the prospect of new regulation, the insurance industry is on pace to break a record $154 million it spent on federal lobbying efforts last year. During the first nine months of this year, insurers spent $122 million and hired 953 lobbyists.

November 18, 2009 | BANK ON A CASH GRAB: The financial services industry has funneled two-and-a-half times more money to members of the Senate and House banking committees, reveals a new report by Public Citizen, which uses Center for Responsive Politics data.

November 18, 2009 | Like Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton before him, President Barack Obama continues to reward donors, fund-raisers and other loyalists with plum diplomatic posts. The two-dozen bundlers elevated by Obama to serve as ambassadors raised a minimum of $10.7 million for Obama's committees, the Center for Responsive Politics has found.

November 17, 2009 | Viewed as a champion of regulatory reform, Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) is an advocate of new regulations regarding financial markets, products and institutions -- including new regulation regarding credit derivatives, "dark pool" markets and hedge funds. Within the Banking Committee, he is chairman of the securities, insurance and investment subcommittee.

November 17, 2009 | Like the health care reform debate, financial regulation legislation has divided members of the same party, opening a rift between liberal and moderate Democrats. But unlike the health care reform debate, where the moderate Blue Dog Democrats have been rabid in their opposition to a public insurance option, a different group has emerged to voice moderates' concerns over financial regulation -- but both are magnets for cash from the financial sector.

November 17, 2009 | On Monday night, the Obama administration announced its intent to nominate Beatrice Wilkinson Welters to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. Welters and her husband, Anthony, an executive with UnitedHealth Group, co-founded the AnBryce Foundation in 1995, which provides academic and leadership programs for underserved youth. They also bundled at least $300,000 for President Barack Obama's committees and have been prolific campaign contributions to federal candidates and committees.

November 16, 2009 | As the United States continues digging itself out of a recession, the nation is poised to re-emerge in a dramatically altered financial climate. And after years of enjoying relatively little regulation, commercial banks, credit companies, hedge funds and securities and investment companies are facing the most extensive overhaul by the federal government since the Great Depression. Over the next seven days, Capital Eye will be following the special interest money in our "Crossing Wall Street" series as both the House and Senate tackle financial regulation.

November 16, 2009 | Congress often acts as a type of bank for bankers themselves -- a place executives can direct their cash, perhaps hoping to collect interest in the form of a legislative favor. The interest rate on that premium appears to be low these days, however, as commercial banks could face a sweeping regulatory overhaul in the coming months.

November 13, 2009 | THOU SHALT NOT LOBBY: At least one Democratic lawmaker isn't thrilled with the role the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops played in helping strip the House's version of health care reform of provisions covering abortion.

November 12, 2009 | Legislation in Congress is written in a dense legalese that frequently references other sections of U.S. Code. Given this fact, Nick Baumann at Mother Jones suggests that process reform might be better served by posting the gist of the bill online using plain English -- like the "conceptual language" voted upon by the Senate Finance Committee.

November 10, 2009 | Democrats who supported an amendment that added restrictions to abortion-related health insurance benefits received considerably more campaign contributions from anti-abortion interests than Democrats who opposed the amendment, the Center for Responsive Politics has found.

November 10, 2009 | What do you get when you cross thousands of dollars in bribery funds with the cold recesses of your freezer? Maybe a lifetime in prison. The Justice Department is seeking a 33-year prison term for former Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.), who infamously used his freezer to hide the $90,000 in cash he received after bribing the Nigerian president.

November 9, 2009 | JUST WAIT UNTIL THE SENATE GETS STARTED: Heckuva lotta drama Saturday night in the House of Representatives finally passed its version of health care reform. We were up with them, glued to C-Span and crunching numbers all the while.

November 8, 2009 | The U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed its version of a landmark health insurance reform bill Saturday night, 220-215, and opponents of the measure have received an average of 15 percent more from health industry and health insurance companies, a Center for Responsive Politics analysis has found.

November 6, 2009 | Many people across the country were heartened by Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman's performance in New York's special election Tuesday. While Hoffman lost to Democrat Bill Owens after Republican Dierdre Scozzafava withdrew from the race days before the election, many on the right still called it a success. As the Republican Party considers who to run for federal races in 2010, how will these energized activists come into play?

November 5, 2009 | The members of the House who voted in favor of a pro-Israel resolution have received $51,260 more on average from pro-Israel organizations ($81,020 versus $29,770) since 1989 than those who opposed it, the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics has found.

November 3, 2009 | HAPPY ELECTION DAY: Voters today in Virginia, New Jersey, New York, Maine and elsewhere are heading to the polls to cast their votes in races -- some high-profile, some less so. How will the high-profile contests in Virginia, New Jersey, New York and Maine turn out? Leave your predictions in the comments!

November 2, 2009 | A new book detailing the political contributions and practices of nearly 5,000 companies goes on sale today, providing consumers with a powerful tool in helping them vote with their wallets.

November 2, 2009 | SCOTUS WATCH: The United States Supreme Court is poised to overhaul laws that govern how companies may spend political cash and that decision could come as early as tomorrow. A study by watchdog group Common Cause uses data from CRP to examine the potential repercussions of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission if the court decides to allow corporate political spending.

October 30, 2009 | 2009 is on pace to be another bumper year for lobbyists. During the third quarter, corporations, unions, trade associations and other special interests spent $849 million on federal lobbying, bringing the year-to-date total to $2.5 billion. Perhaps not surprisingly, the sectors that could be affected most by the Obama administration's domestic agenda -- particularly health, business and energy -- have been some of the biggest spenders over the course of the year.

October 30, 2009 | USING FEDERAL BAILING MONEY TO SECURE ... MORE BAILOUT MONEY? Financial services giant GMAC is effectively broke. Federal officials -- and taxpayers -- may be interested to learn, however, that GMAC has spent nearly $1 million during the first three quarters of this year to lobby the very federal government it's begging for our greenbacks, a Center for Responsive Politics analysis finds.

October 29, 2009 | At least 44 lawmakers have left their congressional seats mid-term since 1990, and at least 16 of them went on to work at lobbying firms or at companies that hired lobbyists, CRP has found. Here, we take a closer look at a few of these individuals, examining which industries and clients they're now representing and the campaign cash they received while in Congress.

October 28, 2009 | LIEBERMAN OPTS OUT OF OPT-OUT PLAN: Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) didn't win any fans among liberal democrats yesterday in announcing that he'd back a Republican filibuster of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) health care reform proposal. Since 1989, only 10 other current senators have brought in more cash from the health sector than Lieberman.

October 27, 2009 | TECH COMPANIES FIND (K&L) GATES OPEN TO VISCLOSKY: Want $2.4 million in earmark funds? It appears all you need to do is start a company, hire the right lobbying firm and wait two weeks. At least this was the case with start-up company NanoSonix, which won Rep. Pete Visclosky's (D-Ind.) support only 16 days after filing its incorporation papers and hiring lobbying firm K&L Gates to represent its interests on Capitol Hill.

October 26, 2009 | REAP WHAT YOU SOW: It's late October, the harvest season in many of the country's agricultural regions. And from a weather standpoint, it may not be a great one in some parts. That doesn't mean, however, that lobbyists aren't benefiting this year of a cornucopia of interest from farmers and growers.

October 23, 2009 | ANTI-RAPE AMENDMENT HAS LOBBYIST FOES: Defense contractors are lobbying Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) to remove or water down language from the defense appropriations bill that prohibited defense contractors from denying victims of assault or rape the ability to bring their case to court, reports Sam Stein at the Huffington Post, who also cites CRP data in his article.

October 21, 2009 | Some of the usual suspects with K Street clout have once again filed lobbying reports demonstrating their prowess on Capitol Hill, a Center for Responsive Politics review of newly filed third quarter lobbying reports has found. Leading the way was the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a leading opponent of many initiatives backed by the Obama administration.

October 21, 2009 | The South Carolina's 2nd Congressional District is currently the most expensive House race in the country, but it's not the only place in the country where strong third quarter fund-raising totals show incumbents and challengers eagerly battling each other.

October 21, 2009 | MCCAIN-FEINGOLD? ZZZZZZZ. We've been waiting for weeks for an outcome to Supreme Court case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which could very well change the nature of federal campaign finance laws as we know them. Nothing yet. But it's given us time to ponder why federal legislation always has such b-o-r-i-n-g names. (Shays-Meehan? Sounds like some sort of chronic thyroid condition.) Congress, let's get creative.

October 19, 2009 | Two little words raised millions for the candidates off South Carolina's 2nd Congressional District. The brouhaha over the "you lie" outburst from Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) during President Barack Obama's healthcare address to Congress in September was a fund-raising boon to both Wilson and his Democratic opponent, Rob Miller.

October 19, 2009 | ARE WE ALL JUST PRISONERS HERE OF OUR OWN DEVICE? Seems a little odd, perhaps that U.S. Sens. Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar -- both Minnesota Democrats -- would team up with the state's very Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who may very well seek his party's presidential nomination in 2012. Over what, pray tell? Medical device firms, which have a notable corporate base in the North Star State.

October 16, 2009 | A LIBERTARIAN STREAK IN WHOLE FOODS: John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods recently told Reason TV that he voted for Libertarian Bob Barr in the 2008 presidential election. According to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis, Mackey's sole contributions to federal candidates and committees have been to Libertarians -- totaling $6,500 between 1996 and 2000.

October 15, 2009 | Politically connected ambassadors will soon represent the United States in Hungary and New Zealand. President Barack Obama has nominated philanthropist and real estate developer Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis to be ambassador to Hungary, while he nominated lawyer David Huebner to serve as the nation's top diplomat in New Zealand and Samoa. The Center for Responsive Politics has found that both Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis and Huebner have been active donors to federal politicians over the past 20 years.

October 15, 2009 | Republican members of the House last week attempted to oust Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) from his powerful chairmanship of the House Ways & Means Committee for the duration of a House Ethics Committee investigation into alleged ethical misconduct surrounding his real estate investments and dubious personal financial disclosure reports. And although the effort failed and Rangel can sit tight for now, signs that he's sustained political damage are emerging.

October 14, 2009 | The House Financial Services Committee today begins marking up a bill that would create a new consumer protection agency and increase regulation of a number of financial products. Even as members of the committee consider how to prevent another economic collapse, they may have another financial issue in mind -- the industries opposing the measure have contributed $77.6 million to the 71 members of the committee since 1989.

October 14, 2009 | MO' MONEY, MO' MONEY: It's the eve of the next round of federal campaign finance filings, and we're as curious as anyone as to who will win the award as the nation's most notable campaign fund-raiser for the third quarter of this year.

October 13, 2009 | The Senate Finance Committee today passed its version of comprehensive health care reform after weeks of marking up the bill. Sen. Olympia Snowe of Washington was the only Republican to vote against the measure. She has also collected less money than all other GOP members of the committee from the health sector, CRP has found.

October 13, 2009 | HEALTH INSURERS RELEASE NEW REPORT: On Sunday, a new study commissioned the health insurance industry group America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) claimed that the health reform legislation authored by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) "will increase premiums above what they would increase under the current system." The Senate Finance Committee, which is chaired by Baucus, is set to vote today on its version of health insurance reform legislation.

October 9, 2009 | The de facto government of Honduras, established after a June 28th military coup, has turned to a more conventional method of fighting for power -- lobbying. According to a New York Times article published earlier this week, the Honduran government's campaign to win Washington's support has already cost at least $400,000.

October 8, 2009 | Despite a lack of support from key leaders in his own political party, Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) said resolutely this week that he has no plans to resign from Congress in the face of accusations that he's deeply embroiled in an ethics scandal. But it's not just his own party's support at risk -- campaign contributors, current and former staffers and even lobbyists may be re-considering their ties to a man who once served as the GOP's primary fund-raiser in the Senate.

October 8, 2009 | Two years ago under the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007, federal lobbyists and their employers were required to start disclosing their campaign contributions to lawmakers when they file what is called an LD-203 report. While there is no evidence that the new law has dissuaded lobbyists from making political donations, CRP found a 22 percent drop in the number of registered lobbyists who have made these contributions when comparing the first half of 2007 to the first half of 2009.

October 8, 2009 | If President Barack Obama is looking for tips on how to divide up the teams in tonight's White House basketball game, we've got a suggestion. Forget who can make the most slam dunks or free-throws. How about the most successful fundraisers in the first half of the year versus the, er, least successful? If the president takes that route, this is what tonight's lineup would look like.

October 8, 2009 | IS THE HONEYMOON OVER?: Pundits this week have been speculating whether President Barack Obama has begun to lose favor among the media and are pointing to a recent Saturday Night Live skit as evidence. But Democrats have maintained financial support from NBC employees so far this year.

October 6, 2009 | As the Senate Finance Committee continues to hash out the final version of its health care reform legislation, medical-device makers are lobbying against $40 billion in fees the industry will have to pay over the next 10 years if the bill remains as is.

October 5, 2009 | Apple reversed course over the weekend and approved an iPhone app that uses CRP data that the company called "politically charged." Apple itself is not apolitical -- it spends cash on lobbying and its employees contribute money to lawmakers.

October 5, 2009 | REPUBLICANS WRANGLE WITH RANGEL'S CONDUCT: Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) has been the center of an ongoing ethics probe and recent calls from Republicans to oust him from his chairmanship of the powerful House Ways & Means Committee means the spotlight isn't going to dim any time soon.

October 2, 2009 | ADULTEROUS SENATOR & AIDE MAY HAVE VIOLATED REVOLVING DOOR RULES: Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) helped his long-time friend and aide Douglas Hampton join a political consulting firm and lined up several campaign donors as his lobbying clients, after Ensign had an affair with Hampton's wife, the New York Times reports. And, the Times notes, subsequent meetings and actions may have violated the ban on lobbying by former Senate staffers within 12 months after their departures.

October 1, 2009 | The fact that the next presidential election isn't until 2012 hasn't deterred lesser-known candidates from planning vigorously, hoping valiantly and mulling over how to increase their name recognition when they have little name recognition in the first place to attract cash. They join a host of others who still technically have an active presidential fundraising committee.

October 1, 2009 | A new collaborative investigation between the Sunlight Foundation and Center for Responsive Politics shows that since January 2007, more than 500 individual lobbyists donated roughly $2.8 million to 61 members of Congress who took money from at least 10 lobbyists and also received money from their clients' PACs or employees. Among the recipients were 11 senators who sit on the Senate Finance Committee.

October 1, 2009 | GREEN POLICY MAKES THE CHAMBER BLUE: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce took another hit this week after Nike announced it would be resigning from the organization's board because of concerns over the Chamber's position on climate change legislation. As these groups sever ties with the nation's largest spender on lobbying, they won't be able to tap into the Chamber's vast connections with Congress on other issues.

October 1, 2009 | A month-long collaborative investigation by the Sunlight Foundation and the Center for Responsive Politics has uncovered never-before-seen webs of campaign contributions from outside lobbyists and their clients, who are all important players in the healthcare reform, to key members of Congress.

September 29, 2009 | Lawmakers who sided with pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies today when they voted against a government-sponsored health insurance option have received more money, on average, from these industries than those who supported the measures.

September 29, 2009 | PROGRESSIVES PRESSURE SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE MEMBERS: The Senate Finance Committee resumes its work today marking up its health care reform legislative proposal. At the same time, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Democracy for America have launched a new ad against Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), encouraging him to support a public health insurance option.

September 28, 2009 | "CO2 IS GREEN" FLUSH WITH GREENBACKS: The men at the helm of two new energy advocacy groups trying to derail the climate change bill in the Senate have been consistent campaign donors throughout the years.

September 23, 2009 | MEMBERS OF CONGRESS DO IT BETTER: Georgia State University business professor Alan Ziobrowski says lawmakers often have an inside advantage to investments. Ziobrowski has analyzed more than 6,000 stock transactions over the past 15 years. "Senators make significant abnormal returns, some place around 1 percent above the market, 12 percent a year," he recently told National Public Radio. "They do better down market, up market. They just outperform the average."

September 22, 2009 | Using CRP data, ProPublica and Politico put out a great report today about a 2007 real estate transaction between Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.) and an Arkansas-based pharmacy, USA Drug. The sale of the property and its assets, plus the negotiation of a noncompete agreement with Ross' wife, Holly, yielded the couple at least $1 million and as much as $1.67 million -- much more than a county assessment said it was worth, according to the report.

September 18, 2009 | WATCHDOG NAMES MOST CORRUPT LAWMAKERS: The nonprofit ethics watchdog Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington (CREW) has released their fifth annual report on members of Congress who they deem have engaged in unethical -- and sometimes illegal -- behavior. Fifteen lawmakers made this year's list, including Sens. Mitch McConnell, Roland Burris and John Ensign, and Reps. Jesse Jackson, Jr., John Murtha, Pete Visclosky and Don Young.

September 17, 2009 | Given the popularity of the four health care tools we provided in our "Diagnosis: Reform" series, we've decided to put those charts together in one place and update them as we get data from the Federal Election Commission and Senate Office of Public Records.

September 17, 2009 | CONGRESSIONAL GRIDLOCK: In just a few short weeks, on Oct. 1, the current transportation authorization bill will expire. Unless Congress acts -- and fast -- this will leave the federal transportation system without any money. As with any major legislation, lobbyists are coming out in droves to influence the shape of a new transportation bill.

September 16, 2009 | "I want to stand up for an oppressed minority whose free speech is being infringed: Corporations," funnyman Stephen Colbert said in his popular "The Word" segment last night, referring to the campaign finance case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

September 16, 2009 | Just as Dwight Eisenhower had the Irving Berlin-penned I Like Ike, and Bill Clinton had Fleetwood Mac's Don't Stop, we here at Capital Eye humbly submit the following suggestions for Rep. Joe Wilson's re-election campaign song:

September 15, 2009 | All but seven Republicans stood by Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) and voted against a Congressional resolution to disapprove of his "you lie" outburst last week. Several of them, including much of the House Republican leadership, have also backed Wilson with financial support in recent years.

September 15, 2009 | In a speech to the AFL-CIO in Pittsburgh today, Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), told union members that he and a group of senators are successfully compromising with labor leaders on the industry's legislative priority, the Employee Free Choice Act. Democrats have overwhelmingly received more financial support from unions, though Specter did not mention whether the legislation's key provision would be part of the deal.

September 15, 2009 | Democratic Congressman Jerrold Nadler of New York introduced a bill today to repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. Groups advocating for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues and rights, however, face an uphill battle on K Street and Capitol Hill to pass it.

September 15, 2009 | A number of lawmakers have requested that insurers disclose their financial records, including details on executive pay and entertainment expenditures. Members of three of the committees to receive this information have also collected millions from these companies for their campaigns.

September 15, 2009 | THE RICHER AND POORER: Roll Call has released their annual 50 Richest Members of Congress list, finding that members returning from last year lost 10 percent of their wealth during 2008. Their top 50 are worth almost $171 million less than the previous batch.

September 14, 2009 | Joe Wilson -- the Republican Congressman from South Carolina who is at the center of Washington's latest brouhaha for shouting "you lie" at President Barack Obama during the president's health reform speech before a joint session of Congress -- has long relied on financial support from health-related industries. Two of his top staffers have also lobbied and advocated for health-related clients in recent years.

September 14, 2009 | HAPPY (OR NOT-SO-HAPPY) ANNIVERSARY, FINANCIAL CRASH: President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak from Wall Street today about the state of the economy exactly one year after the collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers. He will likely argue for more stringent regulation of the financial industry and call for more accountability.

September 11, 2009 | SLAP ME SILLY: Say you're a California assemblyman. And your name is Mike Duvall. And you hope to win re-election. And you're married. And you want to stay married. Then, please heed this advice: Make sure to reveal your love for spanking lobbyists with whom you're apparently having affairs while television cameras are not rolling.

September 10, 2009 | Partisans offer different takes on the political stock of Rep. Joe Wilson (R - S.C.), who heckled President Barack Obama during his speech before a joint session of Congress Wednesday. However, new personal financial disclosures show his personal net worth is definitely falling -- with somewhere between $375,000 and $815,000 of additional debt since the previous year.

September 10, 2009 | Leadership of two committees in the U.S. Senate has gotten a shake-up with the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.). Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) will take the reigns of the HELP Committee, which Kennedy had chaired. Then, Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) will be the new head of the Agriculture Committee.

September 10, 2009 | DOLLARS FOR DISRUPTIONS?: The liberal fundraising group ActBlue is directing individuals to contribute campaign cash to Rob Miller, the Democrat challenging incumbent Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), who shouted "you lie" during the president's address. So far, they've helped Miller raise more than $100,000 since last night.

September 9, 2009 | THE BIG DAY: If you've been following this blog at all in the past few weeks, you know that today could have some ramifications -- big or small -- for the campaign finance world. The United States Supreme Court will today re-hear Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission, a case that could open the floodgates for corporations and unions to spend unlimited sums from their corporate treasuries to expressly advocate the defeat or election of a candidate.

September 8, 2009 | When President Barack Obama gives his much-anticipated speech about health care Wednesday night before a joint session of Congress, he won't likely address medical malpractice reform, much to the chagrin of the country's doctors. Given that health professionals are the second largest contributor this election cycle to candidates and party committees, they might feel slighted by the president's omission.

September 8, 2009 | ON THE EVE OF SHOWTIME: It started with a scathing movie about Hillary Clinton. And Wednesday, the Supreme Court will begin entertaining the monster of a campaign finance-related legal case that's grown from it, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

September 6, 2009 | Washington, D.C., is enjoying the long Labor Day weekend, and the Center for Responsive Politics is no different. But in your leisure time, check out this front-page story by Washington Post reporter Dan Eggen, who uses our research and data in noting Sunday: "In a year when Washington's influence industry should be thriving, with epic battled over health-care and energy legislation, lobbying in many sectors is in marked decline as defense contractors, real estate firms and other companies pull back in a down economy."

September 3, 2009 | So far in 2009, 73 local, state or territorial governmental entities have spent at least $100,000 between January and June to lobby the federal government. More than 750 have spent at least $20,000.

September 3, 2009 | THE HONEYMOON IS OVER: It appears that Wal-Mart just can't catch a break where unions are concerned. The United Food and Commercial Workers is starting a coalition that "calls for improvements in the company's wages, health care, and environmental and labor policies," according to the Washington Post.

September 2, 2009 | The death of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) has left Democratic lawmakers scrambling to fill his seat in the midst of intense debate over one of Kennedy's highest legislative priorities -- health care reform. We thought we'd take a look at some of the possible candidates and how their fundraising compares to that of the late senator.

September 2, 2009 | TICKLE ME, OBAMA: It's a big responsibility for a little red monster. But Elmo, the furry red creature from Sesame Street that's prone to spontaneous song and hysterical giggling, is the White House's latest appointed soldier in the prevention of swine flu.

August 27, 2009 | WEAR YOUR LOBBYING PRIDE, K STREET! Gotta love the Brits, who live in a land where lobbying, which isn't terribly regulated, is sport every bit as much as in the colonies. Now, thanks to Zazzle.co.uk, you can wear your lobbying pride on your back just like your favorite Man U or Tottenham Hotspur jersey. (We know you're just dying for a "World's Hottest Lobbyist" camisole.)

August 26, 2009 | Sen. Edward Kennedy, who called health care reform "the cause of my life," died late Tuesday of brain cancer, his signature legislative issue still unresolved after months of congressional debate.

August 25, 2009 | ARE YOU JOE THE PLUMBER, OR JOE THE NEUROSURGEON? A little problem out in Tennessee. Seems that while state law requires gubernatorial candidates to list the occupations of their campaign donors, some candidates are simply ignoring the provision.

August 20, 2009 | The 52 fiscally conservative House Democrats known as the Blue Dogs and playing prominent roles in the nation's health care reform debate continue to collect campaign funds from health insurers at a greater rate than their non-Blue Dog counterparts, tCRP has found.

August 20, 2009 | WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WEALTH? Have a cool gazillion dollars and a terribly boring life? Meet Virginia's contentious gubernatorial race, where you could donate every last cent to the candidate of your choice, thanks to abnormally liberal contribution laws.

August 19, 2009 | Political action committees and individuals associated with health industries, each of which are intimately involved in the nation's ongoing health care reform debate, are donating more to federal candidates during the second quarter of 2009 than the first quarter, according to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis.

August 19, 2009 | CAMERA ROLLING: As we've been gearing up for the Sept. 9 Supreme Court case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, we've come across some interesting (and sometimes quirky) YouTube footage that helps explain at least part of the story.

August 18, 2009 | Democratic Party committees raised only slightly more than their Republican counterparts during the year's first six months, closing the gap between the two parties that existed during the 2008 election cycle.

August 14, 2009 | Federal lawmakers collected about half a million dollars more from the health sector between April and June of this year than they did in the first quarter of the year -- a total of $15.3 million for 2009. This slight boost is likely the result of the increased intensity of the health care reform debate.

August 14, 2009 | SWALLOW THE MONEY: Please pass the sugar, honey. No? We're out? Splenda? Are you kidding? In a move that justs begs to get the American Dental Association involved, several large food companies are conjuring such a sour scenario while lobbying the Department of Agriculture to reduce import restrictions on the sweet, grainy white stuff, lest the nation find itself devoid of confections.

August 11, 2009 | Today we've added a new feature to our website that will help you connect the dots between specific industries and the lobbyists going to bat for them. Now on OpenSecrets.org you can find a list of lobbyists and their firms associated with more than 100 industries. Sort by lobbyist or lobbying firm and download a spreadsheet that will show you the ties between the lobbyists, the firm employing them and their clients.

August 6, 2009 | Former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) is now an infamous scofflaw who now faces decades in prison after a federal jury Wednesday convicted him of 11 counts of racketeering, solicitation of bribery and money laundering. An ironic footnote: Lawyers and law firms are by far Jefferson's largest campaign donors during his now ruined congressional career, which began in 1990 when he became Louisiana's first elected black congressman since Reconstruction, and ended in December when the embattled politico lost reelection.

August 4, 2009 | One of the nation's hottest U.S. Senate contests is officially off to the races, as Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) today is officially challenging incumbent Sen. Arlen Specter, a long-time Republican who switched his party allegiance to become a Democrat earlier this year.

August 3, 2009 | Senators, on average, raised 57 percent of their individual contributions from out-of-staters during the first six months of 2009. Members of the U.S. House of Representatives, on the other hand, raised a median of 77 percent of their individual contributions from in-state donors.

July 31, 2009 | Since lawmakers filed their second quarter campaign finance reports earlier this month, our researchers have been busy coding and standardizing the data by organization and industry. Here are some of our overall observations--expect more in-depth analysis next week.

July 30, 2009 | The economic slowdown hasn't meant a slowdown in revenue for many well-connected K Street lobbying firms. During the second quarter of 2009, several lobby shops reported earning significantly more than they did during the same period last year.

July 30, 2009 | When mega-lobbying firm PMA Group shut its doors earlier this year under FBI scrutiny, its clients certainly weren't thrilled. Ten other lobbying firms, however, have reaped the benefit, earning at least $560,000 in the first six months of the year from PMA's former exclusive clients.

July 29, 2009 | From families to cities to businesses, a terrifically awful national economy is causing most everyone to crimp their spending. Financial institutions and real estate firms, some financially marginalized to the brink of insolvency or beyond, are no exception, particularly when it comes to their government lobbying efforts.

July 29, 2009 | Oil and gas companies have significantly increased their spending to send their lobbying foot soldiers into the battle over the cap-and-trade energy bill. Between April and June, these companies spent $37.7 million, which represents a 30 percent increase from what they spent during the same time last year, we've found.

July 29, 2009 | During the second quarter of 2009, the pharmaceutical/health products industry and the broader health sector both spent the most cash on federal lobbying efforts. Many of the organizations involved posted six- and even seven-figure increases compared to the second quarter of 2008.

July 27, 2009 | Today, the Center for Responsive Politics begins a daily feature at the Capital Eye blog highlighting news, events, articles and off-beat tidbits from the world of money and lobbying in politics. We call it Capital Eye Opener — and we hope you begin calling it a part of your morning routine. So, without further ado: •…

July 24, 2009 | Media observer Alex Beam discussed his experience with OpenSecrets.org's Donor Lookup feature in a Boston Globe column published this morning and called his sojourn to our site "delightful."

July 23, 2009 | For years, congressional lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have regarded the Lewin Group, a Virginia-based research firm, as an unbiased, nonpartisan auditor of health care legislation. Yet as the Washington Post reported Wednesday, few who have cited recent Lewin data mention that the company belongs to a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, which opposes the public health option and has given money to the lawmakers citing Lewin's stats.

July 23, 2009 | With deficit worries gripping Washington, lawmakers including House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.) and Rep. Thomas Petri (R-Wis.) have proposed cutting taxpayer subsidies to private institutions that issue student loans. But groups such as Sallie Mae are spending big money in opposition to such proposals.

July 22, 2009 | Although abortion-rights opponents have given Republicans 95 percent of their $6.9 million in campaign contributions since 1989, several Democrats are among those pushing for an abortion funding ban in the health care bill. Many of the Democrats involved have collected money from pro-life groups but not pro-choice organizations, the CRP has found.

July 22, 2009 | Lobbyists were paid at least $349.2 million for their services between April and June, according to a partial analysis of their quarterly reports filed with the Senate Office of Public Records on Monday.

July 21, 2009 | House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and first-term Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) seem like natural allies. Both represent staunchly liberal congressional districts and support creating a public health insurance option. Both are multimillionaires and rank among the wealthiest current members of Congress. Yet the two Democrats disagree over how to fund the health care reform legislation coursing through Congress.

July 20, 2009 | Lobbying firms and their clients must turn in their second quarter reports to the Senate Office of Public Records tonight, and the Center for Responsive Politics will be grabbing that data, processing it and updating our lobbying database.

July 17, 2009 | President Barack Obama has tapped 19 ambassadors to represent the United States in international organizations or act as the top statesman in issue-based arenas. Seventeen of these have contributed about $323,900 to federal candidates and committees since 1989.

July 17, 2009 | Jackie Clegg Dodd, the wife of Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), sits on the board of four health organizations from which she collected at least $4,000 in director's fees in 2008, according to Dodd's recently released personal financial disclosure reports.

July 16, 2009 | Current congressional candidates who have turned in campaign finance reports for both the first and second quarters have raised a total of $145.8 million since the start of the year. This includes second quarter reports, due last night at midnight, for about 375 current lawmakers, who raised $65.6 million in the second quarter.

July 16, 2009 | The Center for Responsive Politics, in partnership with Helium, is this month conducting a citizen journalism contest.
Our question for you to answer: As the nation debates health care reform, whose voice is being heard the most: Citizens, politicians or special interests?

July 15, 2009 | Members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, who opposed a version of health care reform that the panel passed today, have on average received more money from the industries fighting against the measure's public health plan component than those who voted "yes."

July 14, 2009 | Republicans–shocker–are itching to ditch him. So is a member of his own Democratic party. But U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, (D-Conn.), will nonetheless report that he's raised $1.2 million during the year's second quarter, various news outlets are reporting.

July 9, 2009 | Over the past three weeks, Capital Eye has contacted members of five Capitol Hill committees responsible for drafting health care reform legislation this summer. Here are their responses (and non-responses) and the money they're collecting from various industries.

July 9, 2009 | Interest groups have filled lawmakers' campaign coffers with cash, and spent millions on lobbyists to promote their positions. So it's not entirely surprising that some lawmakers can't make up their minds on health care reform. Here are a handful of examples of members of the Senate, who have tried to position themselves on multiple sides of the health care debate.

July 9, 2009 | As members of Congress assess the proper dose of reform for the nation's health care system, many of them have likewise invested hundreds of thousands of dollars of their personal funds into the very companies whose financial fortunes depend on what measures become law.

July 9, 2009 | Though health care companies and consumer advocacy organizations are the most active players in the nation's debate over health care reform, non-medical groups are also lobbying to promote pet causes. They are shelling out considerable cash in the hope of influencing the direction of reform this summer.

July 9, 2009 | If you've been following the money in the health care debate with us for the last month, you've probably got a pretty good sense now where it leads. As Congress continues debating the issue, we thought we'd make it even easier for you to keep track of the money by comparing the views of the big industries involved and some of the key players in each industry.

July 9, 2009 | Despite raising millions of dollars from the insurance and financial services industry during their careers, Sens. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) rank among the Senate's most vocal champions of the public health insurance option.

July 7, 2009 | How large of a role do campaign contributions play when it comes time to vote on controversial legislation? That's the question that MSNBC's David Shuster poised to Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) last night, citing CRP data.

July 7, 2009 | When Lois Capps graduated in 1959 from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash. with a bachelor's degree in nursing, she may not have had a political career in mind. During her 10 years of Congress, health care professionals--nurses in particular--have helped paid for her campaigns.

July 7, 2009 | Former heart surgeon Rep. Charles Boustany (R-La.) has raised more than $971,000 from health professionals since 2003 -- his No. 1 industry backer. He is also a member of the House Republican Health Care Reform Working Group and a vocal advocate for private market reforms.

July 6, 2009 | Washington's revolving door may fall off its hinges as lawmakers continue debating health care reform. Citing data from the Center for Responsive Politics, the Washington Post reported this morning that insurers, pharmaceutical companies, medical associations and hospitals have hired more than 350 former government staff members and retired members of Congress as part of a $1.4 million-a-day lobbying campaign.

July 6, 2009 | The first sign of fissures in the business community over health care reform arrived last week when big-box retailer Wal-Mart announced its support for a proposed federal requirement that employers provide health coverage for their workers. This pits Wal-Mart against the preeminent lobbying powerhouse, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

July 2, 2009 | As chief executive of America's Health Insurance Plans, Karen Ignagni has emerged as a central figure in the debate over health care reform. And like many other registered lobbyists, Ignagni has extended her influence and connections by opening her wallet to political candidates.

July 2, 2009 | Recent polls have shown that a broad majority of Americans favor a "public option" for health insurance. Yet public opinion may not be as powerful a force as the lobbying efforts of industries seeking to protect the status quo. Consumer groups that favor President Obama's proposals to lower costs and expand coverage are being decidedly outspent and out-lobbied by drug manufacturers, insurers, HMOS and doctors' associations.

July 1, 2009 | Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) is an OB-GYN who has delivered more than 4,000 babies. Since 1995, he has also collected $1.1 million from the health sector as he advocates for market-based reforms for health care.

June 30, 2009 | Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) is a physician and psychiatrist who is one of the leaders of the House Progressive Caucus on health reform. He has long favored a single-payer health care system, although the health sector is his second largest financial backer.

June 30, 2009 | The nursing home care industry is focusing the bulk of its attention--and likely money--on thwarting a rule supported by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and originally proposed by the Bush administration.

June 26, 2009 | A centrist group of seven Senate Finance Committee members headed by the panel's chairman, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), is emerging as a decisive force in shaping legislation intended to garner bipartisan support, and many have long ties to the health industry's campaign cash.

June 25, 2009 | In the first three months of 2009, the pharmaceutical and health products industry has spent more than $66.5 million on lobbying–an amount that translates into $1.2 million every day Congress has been in session. Just how much influence will that amount buy?

June 25, 2009 | Over the years, the pharmaceutical industry has used its clout to position itself for legislative wins that have brought in billions of dollars. Below is a time line with 10 examples of the industry's influence at work.

June 25, 2009 | ABC employees have favored Obama with their campaign cash. The big caveat? These sums are not just from the news division, and employees of the network's entertainment divisions fueled such giving.

June 25, 2009 | There's a particular breed of lawmaker on Capitol Hill that is pushing hard against a public health care plan, much to the delight of two seriously moneyed special interest groups-insurers and pharmaceuticals. They're the Blue Dogs: moderate, vocal and funded in part by the industries trying to protect their bottom line.

June 25, 2009 | Three finance professors recently published a report stating that for every dollar a company spends on lobbying, its value increases by $200. That equates to a 22,000 percent return on the investment in lobbying.

June 25, 2009 | Here's a cool tool that brings together data from various parts of OpenSecrets.org to show how much money each current lawmaker has raised from various health-related industries and the health sector overall since 1989 (including President Obama's haul).

June 25, 2009 | The ranking member of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support, Linder is also a former dentist and businessman. A former member of the American Dental Association, the group is also his No. 2 campaign donor.

June 24, 2009 | A former doctor, Rep. Tom Price's top contributors reads like a roster of America's medical groups. Out of the Georgia Republican's 20 all-time leading donors, only five aren't related to the medical field. Follow along as Capital Eye profiles some of the lawmakers who were health professionals in their past lives.

June 24, 2009 | The president of the American Hospital Association has asked its members in recent weeks to "push back" on any proposals from Washington that involve cuts to hospital payments. That could be quite the push--behind the interest group's effort is a history of powerful lobbying and a constant stream of considerable campaign contributions.

June 23, 2009 | As chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Max Baucus is playing a key role in determining the shape, size, and cost of health care reform. The Montana Democrat's influence may be even keener as a result of the lobbyist web that flows from his office.

June 23, 2009 | Health care providers may have the same basic goal in mind--to provide quality care to the sick--but the group splinters when determining the best way to do that and cut costs. The debate over health care reform pits doctors against nurses, primary care physicians against specialists. And each group is spending plenty of cash to ensure Congress understands their diagnoses

June 22, 2009 | Twice in the past week, statistician and blogger Nate Silver has used CRP data to analyze the relationship between political spending by the health care industry and key Senate players' stances in the debate over health care reform. While CRP cannot vouch for Silver's methodology, his research has yielded some interesting observations.

June 18, 2009 | No longer battling each other on Capitol Hill, a bipartisan quartet of former Senate leaders with tight connections to elite Washington lobbying firms released a joint health care reform proposal this week.

June 18, 2009 | Health care reform could be the insurance industry's greatest nightmare or sweetest dream, depending on the fate of some of the most sweeping proposals. And insurers are hoping that the $765.2 million* they've spent on lobbying since 1998 will pay off now.

June 18, 2009 | Pharmaceutical companies, like the insurance industry, strongly oppose any proposal to create a public health insurance option, fearful that private insurers would be marginalized and government price controls would limit what the industry can charge for its products. And with drug companies as the No. 1 all-time spender on lobbying, at $1.6 billion since 1998, Congress is bound to at least entertain their concerns.

June 17, 2009 | For some individuals, how Congress aims to reform America's health care system is literally a matter of life and death. For some industries, it could mean the difference between weathering the economic storm or shuttering their businesses. Over the next month, Capital Eye will be following the money as the various special interest groups continue to play politics in response to Congress's health reform proposals. Follow the month-long series here.

June 11, 2009 | For some lawmakers it is never too early to start greasing the money machine. Capital Eye takes a look at some of the new and re-elected senators who are already raising big bucks, even though they won't face another election for six years.

June 10, 2009 | Lawmakers trying to build up their war chests tap a variety of financial resources and walk the fine line of balancing their constituents' needs and their need for money to run a re-election campaign. Find out here who the Members of Congress that relied most on out-of-state donors and PAC giving during the first quarter of 2009 are.

June 2, 2009 | President Barack Obama's choice for the Secretary of the Army, Rep. John McHugh (R-N.Y.) would bring with him strong ties to the defense industry's checkbooks and lobbyists, including Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and PMA Group.

May 22, 2009 | There's no doubt that CRP's work informs a variety of issues and appeals to a wide audience. This week alone reporters used our data to explore the money-in-politics shaping some of the most newsworthy legislation, including the credit card bill, climate change legislation and the health care reform debates, among other topics.

May 20, 2009 | Last week CRP was among a group of government transparency advocates that sent a letter to the White House, urging the administration to reverse the Bush administration policy that makes it impossible for reporters, watchdogs and members of the public to get any info out of the White House's Office of Administration through a FOIA request. Join our efforts!

May 5, 2009 | A Senate Commerce subcommittee hearing tomorrow will take a look at the future of newspapers and what, if anything, Congress can do to help the struggling industry. But journalists are at a disadvantage compared to other industries that can give campaign contributions and aren't publicly scrutinizing the lawmakers.

April 30, 2009 | Given all of the variables, measuring the impact of the economy on K Street isn't exactly a science. But the Center for Responsive Politics has conclusively found that lobbying during the first three months of 2009 has actually increased slightly compared to the same period of time last year. Here you can check out how much which industries and clients have spent the most on lobbying so far this year and which have increased or decreased the most since the start of 2008.

April 2, 2009 | OpenSecrets.org now tracks the number of filers that reported lobbying on a particular piece of legislation, back to 2005, providing information about the specific clients that paid for the work and the lawmakers sponsoring the bills. You can now search OpenSecrets.org's Lobbying Database by a bill's name, description or number. See some of our initial findings here.

March 31, 2009 | Whether there's a victory cigar in the future for tobacco executives depends entirely on if Congress passes a bill in the upcoming days that would force more regulation upon the industry. The House is set to vote Wednesday on the legislation, which would give the Food and Drug Administration the power to approve or reject current or upcoming tobacco products and ingredients. The tobacco lobby has spent millions on lobbying over the years but doesn't have the backing of its biggest company (and lobbyist) Philip Morris.

March 26, 2009 | Members of a Senate Committee that today held the first part of a hearing to examine whether health insurance companies are failing to fully pay reimbursements to policyholders haven't had any trouble themselves collecting money from these companies. In total, health insurance companies' PACs and employees have given members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation $3.3 million since the 1990 election cycle.

March 25, 2009 | Even as he deals with his own health challenges, as chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) has committed himself to focusing on improving the quality and accessibility of American health care. Kennedy's interest in the country's health care issues has brought him money from various health-related industries.

March 19, 2009 | Happy Sunshine Week! In observance of the national government transparency initiative, CRP offers this money-in-politics disclosure report card, grading the federal government on its efforts to shed some light on the ties between its decisions and the private money affecting those decisions. Although the government has made strides in a few key areas since Sunshine Week 2008, it still has a whole lot of homework to do.

March 16, 2009 | As long as everyone's talking today about AIG's payouts to its executives and foreign banks, let's remember the payouts AIG has made over the years to politicians. In the last 20 years American International Group (AIG) has contributed more than $9 million to federal candidates and parties through PAC and individual contributions.

March 12, 2009 | New to the chairmanship this year, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) will have a chance to re-direct the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee as he sees fit. Before this year, Rockefeller's spot on the committee has attracted money from the telecom industry--money that he's gotten some heat for.

March 5, 2009 | At 27, Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.V.) was the youngest member of the first Congress he served in, landing spots on the Interior and Public Works committees in his first term in 1976. Now, as chair of the House Natural Resources Committee (formerly the Interior Committee) and the No. 2 Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (formerly Public Works), he's got the support of transportation unions, the mining industry and oil and gas companies.

March 2, 2009 | The FBI hasn't been the only group continuing to investigate lobbying firm PMA Group, which specializes in securing federal earmarks for its clients. At the Center for Responsive Politics, we've expanded our original analysis of contributions from the lobbying firm to lawmakers, specifically those on the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, to include contributions from PMA's clients, as well.

February 26, 2009 | President Obama's Tuesday address to Congress was entirely about jump-starting the economy, but he didn't even hint at a looming legislative battle between business and labor that both sides say could affect how quickly the country recovers. The two longtime adversaries may have different political strategies, but both sides have already spent plenty of cash trying to persuade lawmakers to side with them.

February 24, 2009 | When President Obama addresses the nation tonight in a State of the Union fashion, it won't just be Congress and members of the public tuning in. Special interests, too, will be paying close attention to what the president has to say about upcoming plans that could affect them. Capital Eye takes a look at the key issues Obama is likely to discuss--and the industries, sectors and groups that will be listening closely to his message.

February 12, 2009 | In a blow to the struggling auto industry that has financially supported Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) for years, the House Energy & Commerce Committee chairman was ousted this year, replaced by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), who hasn't received a penny from the industry. Instead, Waxman has collected money from doctors and health professionals.

January 30, 2009 | Fixing the economy is a huge undertaking for the 111th Congress, and any measures to cut or raise taxes will have to win the approval of the House Ways and Means Committee, which Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) has chaired since 2007. This position has made Rangel a magnet for cash from the finance, insurance and real estate sector.

January 29, 2009 | While companies across the board were losing record amounts of money and laying off employees last year, at least one industry seemed to weather the recession: lobbying. Special interests paid Washington lobbyists $3.2 billion in 2008, more than any other year on record and a 13.7 percent increase from 2007, CRP has found. Corporations in the finance, insurance and real estate sector and automotive industry actually slowed or decreased their lobbying spending overall last year, relying instead on trade associations to represent them.

January 27, 2009 | Although Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) is chair of one of the more powerful congressional committees, he probably isn't the envy of his peers these days with an economic crisis growing larger by the day. Dodd has put in two years as chair of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs and is now charged with shaping legislation to jump-start the economy and help floundering companies, including those that have contributed to his campaigns.

January 23, 2009 | As chair of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., is a target for campaign contributions from Wall Street and the health sector. He's outlined his own vision for health care reform and his committee will have to decide if the overhaul is fiscally possible.

January 15, 2009 | Within the next few months, it will become increasingly clear how the federal government intends to tackle pressing issues, including the economy, health care reform and curbing global warming. Those efforts, led by a Democratic president and an expanded Democratic majority in Congress, might look drastically different from those of the last eight years under Republican President Bush. What won't change, however, are the attempts by special interests to influence legislation. Capital Eye looks at which industries are spending money to shape the economic stimulus, health care reform, energy policy and labor laws.

January 15, 2009 | Labor unions are enthusiastic supporters of Rep. Dave Obey, giving him a total of $2 million since 1989. A seat on the Appropriations Committee isn't enough to attract that kind of union support; a chairmanship on the subcommittee that controls Labor Department spending, however, is. Obey will continue to hold that post this year, in addition to his spot as chair of the entire House Appropriations Committee.

January 8, 2009 | Former Sen. Tom Daschle had an easy time today before the Senate panel that's considering his nomination as Secretary of Health and Human Services, but he's likely to encounter far stiffer opposition to the Obama administration's plans when the job of reforming health care is officially his. The Washington Post used CRP data today to analyze the pharmaceutical industry's strategy--including its shift of campaign contributions to Democrats--in preparing for what could be a bruising fight.

January 6, 2009 | The 111th Congress started its first session today and the newbies will likely be the most overwhelmed. They will quickly learn what the veterans know so well: the donors and industries that helped you win your seat often expect payback. On OpenSecrets.org we've provided a full list of the freshmen with links to their money profiles.

December 19, 2008 | Labor unions, gearing up for a fierce fight on Capitol Hill next year, will find a fervent ally in Barack Obama's pick for Labor Secretary, Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.), who has relied heavily on financial support from unions during her time in the House of Representatives. In total Solis has collected $888,050 from the labor sector since 1999, more than twice what she collected from her next most generous sector.

December 18, 2008 | At the Center for Responsive Politics, we've asked former presidents for years to disclose the names of donors to their presidential libraries, which can accept unlimited contributions from anyone. It appears that all it takes to spur an ex-president to action is the appointment of his spouse to be Secretary of State. The William J. Clinton Foundation, which funds the former president's library in addition to his other charitable initiatives, today disclosed all donors back to 1997. Here are our observations and a list of the donors who gave at least $500,001.

November 20, 2008 | By selecting former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) to head the Health and Human Services Department, Barack Obama is tapping the expertise of a man whose political campaigns in the public sector and salary in the private sector have been paid, in part, by the health care industry.

November 13, 2008 | Detroit's Big Three automakers are trying to re-start their engines and they're looking to the federal government for some fuel. Ford, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler have been joined by the United Auto Workers (UAW) union in asking the government to carve out $25 billion of the $700 billion financial rescue program to pay for their day-to-day operations.

November 6, 2008 | California Rep. Henry Waxman wants Michigan Rep. John Dingell's position as chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and following the money that has helped re-elect both veteran Democratic lawmakers could be a good indicator of how the committee's priorities would shift under new leadership.

October 30, 2008 | Widely perceived to be one of the nation's biggest challenges, health care reform will be at the top of the next administration's agenda, and a battle over proposed changes is certain. For the past 15 years, the health sector, which is already gearing up for next year's fight, has given more money to Republicans than Democrats. But with Democrats in control of Congress-and likely to pick up a few more seats next week-the tide is turning.

October 23, 2008 | 2008 appears to be the first race in recent presidential elections where there is a clear partisan preference among campaign contributors who work in the federal government, as well as in state and municipal government--and even a distinct preference within major federal agencies, including the high-profile departments of Justice and Defense. Barack Obama has collected nearly three times more than John McCain from civil servants and public officials ranging from U.S. attorneys to small-town mayors.

October 22, 2008 | The 2008 election for president and Congress is not only one of the most closely watched U.S. elections in years; it's also the most expensive in history. The nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics estimates that more than $5.3 billion will go toward financing the federal contests upcoming on Nov. 4.

October 16, 2008 | An economic recession is looking increasingly likely, but the personal finances of members of Congress suggest they will be able to withstand the slowdown far better than most Americans, according to a new analysis of lawmakers' latest personal financial reports by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

October 14, 2008 | As the Democrats stand to make substantial gains in both the House and Senate on November 4th, the pharmaceutical industry appears to be following the power. Since the 2006 election cycle, donations from the drug industry have shifted starkly from favoring Republicans to reflecting parity among the parties. So far in this election cycle, Democrats and Republicans have received nearly equal shares of pharma money, 49 percent and 51 percent respectively.

October 9, 2008 | Not at all to the chagrin of oil and gas companies (and lawmakers who have received campaign donations from them), Wall Street is the new black for congressional candidates looking to link their opponents to an unpopular industry. As federal lawmakers have wrestled with an economic bailout plan worth $700 billion, candidates who have received contributions from the financial sector are on the defensive. Find out which candidates are filling their war chests with money from the finance sector in Capital Eye's final installment of Races to Watch.

October 2, 2008 | Like reading tea leaves, one way to predict how a congressional race is going to go is by looking at the disparity in fundraising between the candidates. So far this election cycle, 280 House and Senate incumbents on November's ballot have collected at least 10 times more than the opponent they face in the general election. In this installment of Races to Watch, Capital Eye looks into why some of these incumbents have been such successful fundraisers.

October 1, 2008 | More than a quarter of the money raised by congressional candidates on the November ballot has come from business and labor PACs, not from individual donors, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Capital Eye has profiled some races where labor union and business PAC money is playing the largest role.

September 25, 2008 | Private interests and members of the public aren't the only ones betting their money on the congressional candidates they hope will win (or retain) congressional seats. Lawmakers in both parties have a vested interest in seeing their own candidates succeed this November, with Democrats wanting to strengthen their majority and Republicans hoping to minimize their losses. Here we look at some of the candidates getting the largest cash infusions from their own parties, indicating a close race.

September 24, 2008 | With few exceptions, incumbents will out-raise their challengers--so far this election cycle, incumbents for Congress have raised nine times more than their challengers, on average, and there is not a single Senate race where the challenger has raised more money than the sitting senator. Although challengers aren't winning the money race on the Senate side, the Center for Responsive Politics has identified 14 House races where the challenger surpassed the incumbent in fundraising after the most recent reporting period, through June.

September 16, 2008 | While other members of Congress rush to dump contributions from a California billionaire who has pleaded guilty in a massive stock fraud case, Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) say they plan to keep thousands of dollars they received from the man, Henry Samueli, according to Politico. The nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics has found that Samueli and his wife, Susan, have given more than $250,000 to federal candidates and committees since the 2000 election cycle.

September 3, 2008 | Preparing for a general election in which he cannot collect private donations, John McCain vaulted in front of Barack Obama in fundraising from one of the biggest groups of donors in American politics: the senior set. A new analysis of the Republican nominee's summer fundraising by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics has found McCain leading Obama among retired donors almost two to one in June and July, $8.1 million to $4.5 million.

September 2, 2008 | Whether it's political posturing or out of the goodness of their hearts, both presidential candidates are responding to Hurricane Gustav's havoc along the Gulf Coast--John McCain by curtailing the opening of this week's Republican National Convention and Barack Obama by asking supporters to donate money to the Red Cross. In the wake of such natural disasters, insurance companies, too, play politics, and this election cycle is no exception, with both presidential candidates collecting money from the industry.

August 26, 2008 | While school was out, college professors and other educators were putting money into Barack Obama's presidential campaign, according to a new analysis of the Democratic nominee's summer fundraising. Educators contributed at least $2.3 million to his campaign in June and July, surpassed only by lawyers, who make up Obama's top-giving industry since the campaign's start, and retirees.

August 24, 2008 | There is an emboldened breed of politician strutting around Denver this week and tonight, as part of the Democratic Party's convention, multiple corporations will be throwing a late-night bash in honor of these creatures. A group of fiscally conservative Democrats known as the Blue Dog Coalition has been able to leverage centrist appeal and an increasing Democratic majority into strong gains in the House of Representatives. The group's unique appeal is evidenced in the Blue Dogs' formidable fundraising coalition.

August 19, 2008 | John McCain seems to be getting a taste of his own medicine. For years the Arizona senator has opposed measures that would benefit major pharmaceutical manufacturers, and now the industry, which traditionally supports Republican candidates for president, is injecting Barack Obama's campaign with cash instead. Bloomberg today used data from the Center for Responsive Politics to analyze the industry's apparent shift in this presidential race.

August 7, 2008 | The recently redesigned OpenSecrets.org reached a milestone this week: 1,000 people have signed up for personalized MyOpenSecrets profiles, which allow you to "watchdog what you want" and have the information waiting for you every time you visit the site. Here at the Center for Responsive Politics we're delighted that so many people are taking advantage of this new feature we launched in May.

July 10, 2008 | Industries across the board have a stake in the outcome of energy legislation, either because they are looking for handouts or trying to minimize harm. Capital Eye profiles the major players, their concerns and the money they're spending to be heard on Capitol Hill.

July 3, 2008 | Tomorrow is Independence Day, the time to commemorate the United States's successful revolt against Britain, establishing our own self-reliant government. Well, sort of. While our politicians are no longer answering to the redcoats, they've become awfully beholden to the greenbacks. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, 36 current members of Congress have collected at least 20 percent of their contributions from a single industry, setting up a scheme of dependence and perhaps the expectation of a tit-for-tat.

July 1, 2008 | It appears that being the candidate of change doesn't necessarily mean appealing to a new set of donors. New York Times columnist David Brooks used extensive data from the Center for Responsive Politics today to argue that Barack Obama's fundraising base looks a whole lot like those of Democrats past and present.

June 11, 2008 | Most women will say that being a homemaker is a rewarding job, even though they don't earn any money from it. Campaign finance reports, however, make the important work look surprisingly lucrative.

May 23, 2008 | Democrats have never been the recipients of the larger share of contributions coming from the deep pockets of the pharmaceutical industry. Until this election cycle, that is. So far drug and medical device companies are giving more money to Democrats than Republicans this election season, according to Associated Press, which used CRP's data in its analysis.

May 16, 2008 | Bruising losses for congressional Republicans in districts that are traditionally GOP strongholds pretty clearly signal that the party's in trouble. The money behind the elections is painting the same picture.

May 15, 2008 | Sometimes all it takes to be the coolest kid on the block is throwing the best party--at least that's what the more than 50 corporations that signed up to underwrite the biggest Democratic bash of the year are banking on.

May 14, 2008 | It's no secret that tobacco companies have spent millions of dollars lobbying the federal government over the years. And these efforts will likely pick up again this year as Congress tries to regulate the industry for the first time, giving the Food and Drug Administration the power to oversee tobacco products and banning most flavored cigarettes

May 9, 2008 | The Washington Post's story this morning about a land deal supported by John McCain that benefits his donors, bundlers and staffers illustrates how furiously Washington's revolving door spins. It's enough to make even a senator dizzy.

April 18, 2008 | When environmentalists, lobbyists and eco-friendly citizens come a-knockin' on lawmakers' office doors on Earth Day next week, Democrats (and some Republicans) will detail their legislation that directs taxes collected from the oil and gas industry towards renewable energy initiatives. What they probably won't mention is that lawmakers themselves aren't taking a risk on them with their own money.

April 10, 2008 | Corporations, industries, labor unions, governments and other interests spent a record $2.79 billion in 2007 to lobby for favorable policies in Washington, the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics has calculated.

March 20, 2008 | Since Sunshine Week 2007, a few rays of sunlight have lit up Congress and the Bush administration in the form of ethics legislation and other bills mandating fuller disclosure. As these changes are implemented, the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics is examining their effects on the public's ability to know what's going on in campaign finance, lobbying and other areas related to money and politics.

February 25, 2008 | After 11 primary contest losses, Hillary Clinton is reassuring anxious donors that her campaign is still on track. "The former first lady pledged to continue to stress her differences with [Barack] Obama on issues including universal health care, and said she will step up her criticism of the Illinois senator's lack of experience in public life," the Associated Press reported.

February 5, 2008 | One of the major topics of the presidential debates has been health care and the candidates' proposals for fixing what most agree is a broken system. While Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have similar policy proposals in other areas, health care is one of the few places they diverge.

January 10, 2008 | For a few days at the start of 2008, Richard Stickler, head of the U.S. Mine Safety Health Administration, was out of a job. But President George W. Bush last week ensured that the former coal-mining executive would continue to head the Labor Department agency despite Senate Democrats' concerns.

December 6, 2007 | Lobbyists do represent ordinary Americans, as Hillary Clinton claims, but those contributing to her campaign mostly represent big industries, the Center for Responsive Politics finds. Obama and Edwards eschew lobbyists' money, but their biggest contributors still lobby in Washington.

November 15, 2007 | Top industries and interest groups have increased their giving over 2004 by 46 percent, Center finds. As money shifts to Democrats, giving from Republican strongholds is mostly flat.

November 1, 2007 | Exclusive analysis finds lawyers are still the biggest givers to candidates for the White House, but retired contributors have edged out Wall Street. A year before '08 election, Democrats have the edge in nearly every major industry.

October 22, 2007 | After falling behind nearly all other candidates in total money left in the bank, Republican Sam Brownback has decided he will withdraw from the 2008 presidential race, conceding that money matters enough to make or break a campaign.

October 18, 2007 | The country’s health care system is ailing and the Democratic presidential candidates are offering the best cure, or so suggest the political contributions from health care professionals this cycle. Doctors, psychiatrists, pharmacists and nutritionists have all traditionally given more money to Republicans, but Democrats are bringing in a larger percent of total contributions this year—and…

July 18, 2007 | Hillary Clinton‘s six-year tenure as director of Wal-Mart sometimes comes back to haunt her, most recently in the form of campaign contributions from store employees. Clinton has kept largely quiet about her association with the Arkansas corporation in the late ’80s, especially under Democratic accusations that the retailer offers unaffordable health insurance and mistreats its…

April 18, 2007 | New, exclusive analysis on OpenSecrets.org finds attorneys have given candidates the most, but Wall Street's biggest firms top all other companies. Candidates have relied on their personal connections for early fundraising.

April 7, 2007 | New leadership in the 110th Congress means newfound influence for interests friendly to Democrats By Miranda Blue and Lindsay Renick Mayer January 04, 2007 | With the changing of the guard on Capitol Hill comes a shift in lobbying efforts. In December, the Republican-led 109th Congress closed with a late-night flurry of bills to appease…

April 5, 2007 | Ethics concerns and new legislation have put the brakes on congressional travel in 2007. By Lindsay Renick Mayer April 05, 2007 | (This story has been corrected to reflect Rep. Steven Leslie Kagen’s trip to Miami this year.) As two ethics bills restricting congressional travel fly through the House and Senate, lawmakers are largely grounding…

March 21, 2007 | Voters and candidates had their minds on the war, so PACs representing abortion and gun interests pulled back on their campaign contributions. By Lindsay Renick Mayer March 21, 2007 | Although political action committees across all industries increased their total contributions to candidates during the last election, giving by PACs tied to several hot-button political…

March 15, 2007 | U.S. Chamber of Commerce spent 83% more on lobbying in 2006, but overall growth was less than 2 percent. Drug and biotech again topped all industries. ____________________ WASHINGTON – Washington’s influence industry managed to build its lobbying business in 2006, according to an analysis of year-end disclosures by the Center for Responsive Politics, but growth…

March 15, 2007 | Who's funding your elected representatives' campaigns, and how is that money being spent? What public policies are lobbyists trying to influence? It's your right to know, so speak up—here's how.

March 8, 2007 | Now that Democrats control Congress, the political dynamic of climate change has shifted. Many industries and interests have a stake. By Lindsay Renick Mayer March 08, 2007 | The earth is warming at an unnatural pace, but this isn’t the only climate change that has multiple industries re-assessing their political strategy. As the debate over…

January 22, 2007 | Global warming, the Iraq war and balancing the budget are likely to be among the issues the president addresses. By Lindsay Renick Mayer January 22, 2007 | When President Bush takes the podium on Tuesday night to deliver his annual address, he will do so before a nation that is far less supportive of his…

November 3, 2006 | House and Senate candidates who didn’t even make it to Election Day spent almost $100 million raised from contributors and their own pockets. By Lindsay Renick Mayer and Miranda Blue November 03, 2006 | Every two years, candidates running for Congress plead with friends, family and people they’ve never met to dig deep into their…

October 18, 2006 | Pennsylvania congressman urges reliance on ‘verifiable’ facts, but there has been little public disclosure of his daughter’s lobbying business. By Lindsay Renick Mayer October 18, 2006 | As federal investigators examine whether Rep. Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania used his political clout to help his daughter’s lobbying firm and her clients, members of the press and…

October 10, 2006 | Easy-to-search databases add to free offerings of award-winning OpenSecrets.org ____________________ The non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics has added two new features to its award-winning money-in-politics Web site, OpenSecrets.org. One database details more than $2.4 billion in assets reported by members of Congress, the president and other top federal officials, making their personal financial disclosures fully…

August 29, 2006 | Commission rejects proposal that would allow unions, corporations and other advocacy groups to use unlimited, undisclosed funds for pre-election ads that name candidates. By Lindsay Renick Mayer August 29, 2006 | The Federal Election Commission rejected today a proposal that would have allowed labor unions, corporations and advocacy groups to broadcast ads close to an…

April 27, 2006 | The masses huddled on immigration issue include some surprising interests By Courtney Mabeus April 27, 2006 | Just as the United States is a tapestry woven of people from different countries and backgrounds, the various groups that lobby on the immigration issue form a diverse and often surprising patchwork. Lobbyists for ballet dancers, mushroom growers,…

March 23, 2006 | GOP activists favor these candidates for the White House in 2008. But who will the money follow? By Courtney Mabeus March 23, 2006 | Republican Party leaders and activists gathered in Tennessee this month, and in a straw poll anointed native son Bill Frist as their chosen one to run for president in 2008. The…

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